Ashwell Prince completed the
double of Castle man of the match and Castle man of the series when
the second Test match against Bangladesh finished at SuperSport Park
on Friday.
The Proteas won by an innings and 48 runs to take the series 2-0 and
complete their warm-up programme for the Australian tour next month
in fine style.
Prince was the
obvious choice, having made more than 200 runs in his two innings in the
series without being dismissed. This included his unbeaten 162 (333
minutes, 223 balls, 23 fours and two sixes) in the current match that also
featured a South African sixth wicket record partnership of 271 in
association with Mark Boucher (117 in 274 minutes, 190 balls, 16 fours).
This partnership turned the match around after the Proteas lost their
first five wickets cheaply and at that stage trailed by 116 on the first
innings. The Prince-Boucher stand eventually gave South Africa a first
innings lead of 179 that proved way beyond the capabilities of their
opponents.
Once Boucher was dismissed, the South African first innings finished very
abruptly with three wickets falling in four balls with left arm spinner
Shakib Al Hasan returning the excellent figures of 6/99 in 28 overs.
When Bangladesh batted again, whatever chance they had of wiping out the
deficit disappeared out of the window when three of their top six batsmen
were run out, two of them courtesy of brilliant direct hits from Hashim
Amla and Dale Steyn.
The South African bowlers also raised their intensity
substantially compared to their first innings effort.
In addition to the run outs there was another brilliant gulley catch
from Neil McKenzie as Makhaya Ntini and Morne Morkel both finished
the match with six wickets.
For once Dale Steyn went wicketless in a test match
innings but he was unlucky to have a couple
of catches dropped.
