Bangladesh batsmen stand firm against New Zealand

Bangladesh made a solid start against New Zealand on the first day of the first Test match in Wellington on Thursday. Mominul Haque and Tamim Iqbal scored attractive half centuries to take Bangladesh to 154 for three at stumps on a rain-disrupted day.

Bangladesh's Mominul Haque plays a shot on day one of the first Test match against New Zealand in Wellington on Thursday. Marty Melville/AFP

New Zealand bowlers were expected to run through the visitors’ batting line up thanks to prime bowling conditions.

But Bangladesh defied the Kiwi bowlers with Tamim adopting an aggressive approach.
Tamim only faced 50 deliveries for his 56, which included 11 boundaries, while Mominul’s unbeaten 64 was laced with 10 fours and a six.

"History says the first innings is really difficult on this wicket and not too many runs have been scored by the best of teams. In that case we handled it pretty well," Tamim said.

"We are very new to this wind so at times we had to stop the bowlers because it was too heavy. There were seven, eight occasions when the bails fell down. For us it was difficult because we haven't faced this situation before but still we played really well."

New Zealand have never lost to Bangladesh, winning eight of 11 previous Tests with three drawn.

South Africa opt to bat in third Test

South Africa were 79 for the loss of two wickets against Sri Lanka at lunch on the first day of the third Test match at the Wanderers in Johannesburg today.

Sri Lanka claimed the wickets of the two opening batsmen within six balls.

Stephen Cook and Dean Elgar survived the first hour before both were out with the total on 45.

Hashim Amla, playing in his 100th Test, and Jean-Paul Duminy were the batsmen at crease.

South Africa opted for an all-pace attack and with Duanne Olivier making his debut.

Left-arm seamer Wayne Parnell replaced Kyle Abbott, whose contract with Cricket South Africa was cancelled after he revealed he had signed to play English county cricket with Hampshire.

South Africa have already won the three-match series after winning the first two matches.