SA must brace themselves for another skilful and strong all-round performance from improving Bangladesh during their two-match Test series starting on Thursday at Kingsmead Stadium in Durban.
This is the view of former Proteas captain and Bangladesh batting coach Ashwell Prince, who is cautioning that the Proteas may find themselves in a sticky “out of the pan and straight into the fire” situation.
The Tigers outplayed the Proteas in two of three matches they won to seal the ODI series 2-1 and Prince, who worked with Bangladesh players for nine months recently, says their skills levels are up there with the best in the world.
“I am speaking from a little bit of knowledge of the team, having been in the Bangladesh camp until recently,” said Prince.
“When you are in camp, you are able to see the skill level of the players first-hand and I can tell you the skills levels of the Bangladesh players are definitely up there with international cricket standards.”
SA are under pressure to avoid another series loss and they will have to beat Bangladesh without a number of key players who have left for the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram are unavailable and they will be joined in India by other South Africans — Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Dewald Brevis and Dwaine Pretorius.
Without Rabada, Ngidi, Jansen, Van der Dussen and Markram, Prince believes SA will field a largely inexperienced team against Bangladesh who will have momentum from their ODI series win.
“In the first Test, you will probably find that Bangladesh have more Test caps than SA and if you go for skills and man-for-man capabilities, you’ll find they can match them,” he said.
“If you think Bangladesh have been coming here for many years and never won a Test match, you are making it seem impossible and we know it is not impossible because they have just won the ODI series and they beat New Zealand not so long ago.
“When you take the history away and strip it down to the nitty gritty, it all comes down to skill versus skill and who is going to win that battle on the field. When you play against the so-called big teams, you must analyse them properly.
“Bangladesh are not going to play against a SA team that is number one in the world and have the likes of Graeme Smith, Herschelle Gibbs, Hashim Alma, Jacques Kallis and those guys of the past. They are playing against a team going through a transition, that has less experienced players in all departments — because of that they will definitely fancy their chances.”
Looking at the two teams closely, Prince said fast bowling may prove to be the difference although matches will be played in Durban and Gqeberha.
It all comes down to skill versus skill and who is going to win that battle on the field
— Bangladesh batting coach Ashwell Prince
“When both teams line up for the first Test match, SA’s bowling attack will probably be more inexperienced because we are talking about Dwaine Olivier, Lutho Sipamla, Glenton Stuurman, Lizaad William and Wiaan Mulder.
“As things stand, Bangladesh will be encouraged by the fact that SA’s main bowling attack is not going to be here and that the matches will be played in Durban and Port Elizabeth [Gqeberha].
“As South Africans, we have seen, with Bangladesh winning a Test match in New Zealand and the ODI series against the Proteas, that they have a good bowling attack and they can take 20 wickets. In the past, Bangladesh relied heavily on spin bowling but currently they have good fast bowlers like Shohidul Islam, Shoriful Islam, Taskin Ahmed and Taijul Islam.
“They have spin but these guys form part of the fast bowling attack in Test matches. I don’t know if all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan will be here for the Test matches because he is very important for them.”
With bat in hand, Prince also believes Bangladesh have good batsmen like Mominul Haque, Yasir Ali, Litton Das, Shadman Islam, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudul Hasan.
“They also have very good batsmen, a few of them are still young and making their way into Test cricket but they are good players. From a skills point of view, they do have the skills but what worries them the most when coming to SA is not so much fast bowling but the bounce of the fast bowlers.”
Because of the absence of Van der Dussen and Markram, Prince said Ryan Rickelton deserved an opportunity. “SA’s top three picks itself with Dean Elgar, Sarel Erwee and Keagan Petersen — and the rest will probably be made up of Temba Bavuma [and] Kyle Verreynne who scored a hundred in the last series against New Zealand.
“I would expect to see him (Kyle), Temba and maybe Ryan Rickelton, who has been on tour a bit of late and hasn’t had an opportunity.”
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