The stadium gates opened at 09.08 this morning and what a great day of Test cricket we had! Kyle Verreynne and Wiaan Mulder's magnificent partnership of 136 was followed by an equally important and even more frustrating one of 66 between Verreynne and Dane Piedt.
Verreynne scored his second Test century in the process and Mulder his maiden Test fifty to give South Africa a first innings lead of 202. Two early wickets from Kagiso Rabada, and one from Maharaj later on, have reduced Bangladesh to 101/3 at stumps, still 101 runs behind.
The first thing you notice when entering through those stadium gates is that the areas beneath the stands are rented by furniture retailers storing furniture! In any other ground around the world, at least those I’ve been to, the areas under the grandstands are a buzz of activity where overpriced food and beer is sold!
Food and drink for sale here is found very close to the seats and, being a Moslem country, there is obviously no sign of alcohol. The only drink available is bottled water, which is generally poured into a plastic cup for you and costs 5 Taka (US 4 cents). Food options are limited to four items (plus packets of crisps and ice cream), all costing less than 100 Taka each.
Bangladeshi crowds start to arrive properly halfway through the first session, and they build up as the day progresses. At the start of play you find plenty of security guards, policemen, the army and even the bomb disposal unit! Incidentally, the men from the bomb disposal unit were the first to ask me for a selfie today. And talking of security, the only items allowed into the ground are what you are wearing, your phone, wallet and flags – if you have one.
Once the crowds arrive, there is a fantastic atmosphere, even though the ground is nowhere near full. "Sabash" is what the crowd shouts when something is good (a great delivery, a boundary, a catch etc), whilst "Boo-ah" is screamed when they don't like a particular player ("Boo-ah Shanto", for example; they don't like their captain!).
Being the only Westerner in the stands, I get asked for lots of selfies, and also my name and from where I come. Other common questions include who my favourite Bangladeshi player is, and what I think of Shakib al Hasan! Children want to shake my hand, people are keen to practise their English with me and I get told about all of the South African greats who they love. AB De Villiers ("Mr 360", as they also call him) is by far the most popular, but other names mentioned are Klaasen, de Kock, du Plessis, Miller, Amla, Markram and Rabada.
Everybody is extremely friendly and polite. There is always a "thank you" - and quite often a handshake - after selfies. I've been given water to drink and tissues to wipe the sweat from off my face. They all had a very good laugh though when I put on my sunscreen (which I was finally allowed to bring in.)
People wanted my Facebook ID, so I have a few new Facebook friends now. I disappointed some by not being on Instagram, oh well. I've participated in interviews for CricLive24, a Facebook "channel", and I was also interviewed by a student from the nearby English language school; he will use the video footage as part of a project.
The ground is quite run down in parts, but it does have a lovely old-fashioned scoreboard on the south side of the ground. Tanvir is one of its operators; he introduced himself to me before play began this morning and was very proud to show me his "South Africa tour of Bangladesh 2024" lanyard with his photo, name and title of "Scoreboard Operator". Tomorrow I plan to visit inside. The electronic scoreboard opposite isn't very good at all; its lettering is far too small so it's impossible to read.
Robin Jackman once said (when referring to the band at St George's Park) that he believed Test cricket "should be watched in silence". Here in Dhaka it really is "watched in silence" as there isn't even a public address announcer! The only announcement made in the entire match so far has been for the national anthems.
The teams weren't officially announced, nor was the result of the toss, and milestones aren't mentioned either. It was quite strange seeing Verreynne lift his bat to celebrate his century this morning, without a single word over the public address system.
And with that, I am loving my time here with these amazing people who are making this trip to special. I am disappointed that tomorrow it will all be over although a victory for South Africa inside three days will be a commendable achievement that I should be happy about.
But I also know that Test cricket is a strange, peculiar and unpredictable animal and that I shouldn’t take anything for granted. Even chasing a hundred in the fourth innings on this pitch could prove to be dramatic.
Awesome look at the game from ground level:) interesting about the lack of a public address system!
I think if Bangladesh can get a lead of 150-200, then they give themselves a really good chance of turning this around with their spinners in the fourth innings.
Though, Markram and Stubbs are the key.