Bangladesh bowled out for 53 in first Test defeat against South Africa

Bangladesh crashed to 53 all out on the fifth day of the first Test against South Africa in Durban after spinner Keshav Maharaj picked up seven wickets to seal a 220-run win at Kingsmead on Monday.

Maharaj took 7-32 and off-spinner Simon Harmer 3-21 as Bangladesh were bowled out for their lowest total against South Africa, falling well short of the 274 needed for victory.

Resuming at 11-3, Bangladesh lost their remaining seven wickets for 42 runs in less than an hour.

Mushfiqur Rahim was dismissed in the first over of the day, leg before wicket to Maharaj when he played down the wrong line.

Liton Das fell to a soft dismissal in Maharaj's next over, gifting a simple catch to Harmer at mid-on. Maharaj made it three wickets in three overs when he bowled Yasir Ali past the edge.

The rest of the batting crumbled with only Najmul Hossain putting up any resistance, scoring 26 off 52 balls - one of only two players to reach double figures in the innings.

It was a dramatic turn of events for the Tigers after they had complained about “inconsistent” decisions and asked for the return of neutral umpires in international cricket.

Umpires from host countries have been used since 2020 due to pandemic enforced travel restrictions.

South African umpires Marais Erasmus and Adrian Holdstock were standing in the Durban Test, where Bangladesh saw a few close calls go against them.

Opener Dean Elgar was given not out on the field by Erasmus in the fifth over after being hit on his back leg, with technology showed the ball clipping the stumps. He survived on “umpire's call".

Soon after, Bangladesh overturned Holdstock's not out lbw decision against Sarel Erwee which was shown to be plumb.

Seven overs later Khaled Ahmed was denied an lbw