South Africa scored 307 runs for 2 wickets on the first day of Chittagong Test. The Proteas are on the way to a big collection thanks to the pair of 201 runs of opener Tony Di Georgi and Tristan Stubbs, who came down to play at number three. Stubbs was bowled out for 106 but De Georgie ended the day's play unbeaten on 141. This is the first Test century in the career of both. Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons is not disappointed even though the visitors dominated on the first day.
At the press conference at the end of the day's play, Simmons said at the start of the match, 'I'm disappointed, I can't say that. Nice batting wicket here. I think the bowlers worked hard and bowled well. Some opportunities are missed. It could have been otherwise, I could have got four or five wickets. But you know, it's a tough day. All in all a tough day, but I wouldn't call it a disappointment.'
Bangladesh played with one less bowler in the Dhaka Test. The situation has not changed in Chittagong. The only difference is that Nahid Rana is played as the second pacer, minus one spinner. Bangladesh had to struggle hard on the batting wicket with four specialist bowlers on the first day of the Test. In this regard, the head coach said, 'The idea was to take the fifth bowler. When your batting failure is going on, sometimes it leans a little towards this direction. And I think that was in consideration. First of all our aim is to win the Test match, and if it is not possible to reach the stage of winning, then you have to at least save it. Test matches cannot be given up so easily. We have entered the field with four pacers considering this aspect.
Talking about their plans on the second day of the match, Simmons said, 'Now the team is planning, tomorrow (Wednesday) morning we have to take quick wickets. Then, when we bat… we have seen in Test matches, one team scored 500 runs in Pakistan, the other team scored 800 runs and that also paid off. So there is always a possibility of getting a result. We will use today's experience to try to do something different tomorrow. One should think about winning the Test match first, then anything else.'
