Bowlers Fighting For Bangladesh

The Bangladesh batsmen have only themselves to blame for yet another erratic display, but the bowlers raised unlikely hopes of taking a first innings lead after the end of first day in the Warid first Test against South Africa on Friday.
Having managed a meagre total of 192 runs, the bowlers reduced South Africa 76-4, giving coach Jamie Siddons and captain Mohammad Ashraful something to tell in the post-day press conference.
I think we gave away a pretty good opportunity to put South Africa in a spot of trouble. Batting first in our condition, our wicket, we should have done a lot better. I am disappointed but still we have some hope out there. We fought our way back and we are still in the match, said Siddons.
Everyone saw a massive improvement in our batsmen but then they played a shot for no reason like Ashraful and Aftab did.
Aftab and Ashraful top scored for Bangladesh in the first innings with 44 and 34 respectively but both of them had their share of blame for spoiling a good start with careless shots.
Aftab put together 70 runs for the sixth wicket with Sakib al Hasan to help the Tigers go past 150 in their first innings for the first time in seven Tests after South African seamers left the hosts tottering at 82-5 before lunch.
He lofted a catch to Makhaya Ntini at mid-off off Johan Botha when the batsman looked set for a big score. The same bowler had earlier scalped Ashraful with only in his fifth ball of the match.
After hitting the spinner for two consecutive fours, Ashraful went for another big shot only to give a low return catch that ended stroke-filled innings of 34 that came off only 27 balls.
Quite a few of us like me Aftab, Shahriar, Sakib got a start in the innings but we could not carry on. If anyone of us could have made at least 70, we could have easily gone past 250, lamented Ashraful.
However, we still have a chance because our bowlers did so well. If we can restrict them to a minimal score tomorrow (Saturday), we could still have some competition.
South Africa set out to score 300 runs in the first innings but they lost Graeme Smith (10), Neil McKenzie (5), Hashim Amla (25) and Jacques Kallis (17) in less than two hours.
I am really happy at the way we bowled. You know, we have talked a lot after the warm-up game, about the game plan, about the reverse swing, about bowling to left-handers, said coach Mickey Arthur.
I am slightly disappointed with the batting at the moment, but we still have six wickets in hand and obviously we can squeeze our way to 300, said Arthur.
Wickets in the subcontinent are not like the ones we are used to have in South Africa. So, we know, whatever we do, we have to it in the first innings. It may not be very easy to bat here in the fourth innings, added Arthur.