Elgar and Bavuma play captains' knocks as new-look Proteas show some steel against Tigers

Perceived to be compromised by five stars being unavailable due to their IPL commitments, a new-look Proteas instead showed some encouraging steel to claim the ascendancy in their battle against Bangladesh on the opening day of the first Test at Kingsmead on Thursday.

Appropriately, it was their two most senior batters - and the captain and his deputy - in Dean Elgar and Temba Bavuma, that took the lead with twin half-centuries that guided the hosts to 233/4 before bad light stopped play with 13 overs left.

That sense of responsibility also mitigated the fact that the South Africans could've, and probably should've, been in an even more powerful position had it not been for some wasteful dismissals from the less experienced men of the batting order.

For the first 33 minutes of the day, however, there would be no play despite the bright sunshine as malfunctioning sightscreens frustrated all involved. 

AS IT HAPPENED | Proteas v Bangladesh, 1st Test, day 1

Cricket South Africa (CSA), commercial and marketing partner Megapro and series sponsor Betway had decided to put auxiliary digital screens in front of the stadium's existing ones, but a technical glitch meant those didn't change to white.

Bafflingly, even when the screens were able to change, the top right corners still bore black.To compound matters, only white muslin cloths were available for covering, meaning that several had to be sourced to deliver a white enough background.It definitely wasn't a good look for Kingsmead though it's subsequently been confirmed that this was a CSA and Megapro mishap, who both failed to test the system.

Once proceedings did get underway, Elgar, quite literally, wasted little time imposing his authority on the visiting attack in a profitable