The second day was to prove a memorable day for both teams and some of the players. With South Africa poised to take charge of the Test, the Bangladeshi’s must always have known that it would place a huge demand on the physical and mental capabilities.

Dippenaar and Rudolph had weathered the attack the previous evening with thoughts of going onto bigger things. They certainly did have to work in the heat as the Khaled Mahmud slowed the game down to compensate for the lack of penetration in his bowling attack.

Rudolph was the first to get to the magical century and played an extremely measured innings that was punctuated with some classy strokes. His innings showed an enormous amount of maturity for someone playing in his first official Test. This after being withdrawn from a Test against Australia and then having his innings against India deleted from the record books. It surely was a defining moment in his career and signalled to all who cared to watch that he has arrived on the international scene and will be a player that South Africa can build on for a long time to come. His technical ability has always been evident and the manner in which he times the ball through the off-side allows him not need to force a stroke and break his shape to gain power. Against spin he is equally comfortable and being able to get to the pitch of the ball more often than most will in time make him an accomplished player even on spinning wickets.

Dippenaar took slightly longer to get to his century and had to wait until after the tea break. Skipper Mahmud certainly didn’t help matters when he didn’t stay down at slip and grassed a rare opportunity.

Boeta Dippenaar has cored a century previously and would have felt a touch more relaxed than his partner. Over the past few seasons he has been critisized for squaring up while playing on the back foot. This pitch never tested that area of his game. However, the fact that Kallis will return to the fray against England later on in the year certainly would have spurred him on throughout the innings.

Once the centuries had been posted the floodgates opened and run scoring was almost at will. From a South African perspective the timing of these performances could not have been better. For a team partially punch-drunk from criticism, this day was a welcome tonic and the team will certainly draw strength and a sense of pride in performance.

Bangladesh will remember the day for the amount of time they spent without taking a wicket. The spinners proved totally ineffectual even though there was good spin to be had. Kapali bowled far to quickly to allow the ball to turn while Ashraful looked a good prospect with his leg spin.

Field placing was never easy but somehow Khaled had to take wickets and by having no close-in catchers around the bat to the spinners for long periods, he never gave himself a chance.

The debut wicket keeper also missed a great opportunity to dismiss Rudolph on 98 when he went down the track to Ashraful and missed the ball completely. Those chances are rare and if missed they lead to tough times in the field.

South Africa will surely bat on and post a score beyond the reach of Bangladesh and who knows where that will end!

© Wisden Cricinfo Ltd