Phil Simmons | Bangladesh head coach: We had three days before I came in and the three days have gone well, I can say that I have hit the ground running. The focus and the message is to work hard and play well. We know our conditions and need to put pressure on them. It’s going to be spin, whether from today or tomorrow that’s to be seen. The key is patience, the key is that we need to bat long and give our bowlers the chance to attack the opposition. I think they are going to come hard, their fast bowlers are going to come hard on us, that’s what Test cricket is about and they are a proud cricketing nation.

Teams:

Bangladesh (Playing XI): Shadman Islam, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Najmul Hossain Shanto(c), Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das(w), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Jaker Ali, Nayeem Hasan, Taijul Islam, Hasan Mahmud

Pitch Report: The surface has time to recover and come to life again. There’s a covering of grass on this surface. There has been weather around and the locals have said that the water table has been high. But, this surface looks dry. The team winning the toss will look to bat and get a mountain of runs on the board, reckons Ed Rainsford

South Africa (Playing XI): Tony de Zorzi, Aiden Markram(c), Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Ryan Rickelton, Matthew Breetzke, Kyle Verreynne(w), Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Dane Piedt

Pitch Report: The surface has time to recover and come to life again. There’s a covering of grass on this surface. There has been weather around and the locals have said that the water table has been high. But, this surface looks dry. The team winning the toss will look to bat and get a mountain of runs on the board, reckons Ed Rainsford

Bangladesh have won the toss and have opted to bat

Markram: It is what it is, obviously we would have liked to bat first, that's no secret. The preperation has been good and we have had a practice session for 4-5 days here.

Shanto: I will like to bat first, it looks dry.

Bangladesh have won the toss and have opted to bat

As Bangladesh come to terms with playing without Shakib in the longest format of the game, Shanto is hopeful that Mehidy Hasan will step up and fill up the void.

South Africa, on the other hand, come into the game with some of their young players bracing up for trial by spin.

09:00 Local Time, 03:00 GMT, 08:30 IST: South Africa’s tour of Bangladesh for a 2-match Test series will get underway in a while. This Test match was meant to be Shakib Al Hasan’s grand farewell in this format but he has made himself unavailable owing to security concerns. Bangladesh will be without arguably their most impactful cricketer. There’s tension and drama in the air as far Bangladesh cricket is concerned. Bangladesh’s head coach, Chandika Hathurusinghe, has been sacked due to disciplinary issues and replaced by Phil Simmons last week. There has also been political unrest in Bangladesh in the last couple of months and beyond. Amidst all the off-field drama, Shanto has asked his team to focus on the game in hand. Bangladesh won a historic Test series against Pakistan in Pakistan recently but that was followed by a disappointing tour of India. The hosts need to lift themselves up and give it their all to cheer their fans up.

South Africa’s tour of Bangladesh for a 2-match Test series will get underway in a while. This Test match was meant to be Shakib Al Hasan’s grand farewell in this format but he has made himself unavailable owing to security concerns. There’s tension and drama in the air as far Bangladesh cricket is concerned. Bangladesh’s head coach, Chandika Hathurusinghe, has been sacked and replaced by Phil Simmons last week.

Preview by Telford Vice

Some match previews are chores to write. An angle needs to be conjured or contrived, followed by a few hundred words of conjecture that are likely to be proven mostly mistaken by the time the first ball is bowled. This isn't one of those previews.

The first Test of Bangladesh's series against South Africa was to have been Shakib Al Hasan's grand farewell in this format to a team and their supporters who have leant too heavily on his talent and skill in the course of his 71 Tests, 247 ODIs and 129 T20Is. He is set to retire from the international game entirely after the Champions Trophy in Pakistan next February and March.

But Shakib, once linked to the fallen Awami League regime and implicated in a murder case, jolted that narrative off course on Thursday by withdrawing from the Test squad citing doubts over his personal security.

At his press conference on Sunday, Aiden Markram was asked, three times, variations on the theme of whether he would miss playing against Shakib. His response, distilled and edited, was: "It's a bit of a relief that we don't have to face him. I assume his experience would be of massive importance in the changeroom, as well."

This kind of stuff is far beyond the realm of the humble match preview. But it wasn't the only headline that crashed out of cricket in Bangladesh last week. On Tuesday, the BCB suspended head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe. On Thursday he was sacked and replaced by Phil Simmons.

The suits acted against Hathurusinghe for two reasons. He allegedly hit one of his players during a World Cup match against New Zealand in Chennai in October because, in Hathurusinghe's estimation, the player had taken too long to run drinks to the Bangladesh batters in the middle. The other issue is that, reports say, Hathurusinghe took 112 leave days last year and 59 this year. Contractually, he is allowed only 45 such days per annum.

The news from the South African side of the dressing room divide seemed significant before all that happened. This will, after all, be the first international played in Bangladesh since Sheikh Hasina was deposed and will thus be imbued with special significance.

Kagiso Rabada returns to the ground where, aged only 20 and before he had played any of the 64 Tests that make him the most experienced member of the current squad, he took 6/16 in an ODI against Bangladesh in July 2015. It was his debut in the format and his fifth international, and it included a hattrick: he bowled Tamim Iqbal, had Litton Das caught at midwicket, and trapped Mahmudullah in front with consecutive deliveries.

But wait. There's more. Rabada needs one more wicket to join Dale Steyn, Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Allan Donald and Morne Morkel in South Africa's 300-wicket club in Tests. How many overs Rabada will be given is another matter on its own.

The South Africans asked their hosts to provide eight net bowlers to help them prepare for the match and adjust to the conditions. The request came with a proviso - six of the bowlers needed to be spinners.

When: October 21 to 25, 2024; 10am Local Time (5.30am SAST, 9:30am IST)

Where: Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, Dhaka

What to expect: Spin, spin, spin and more spin. Let's hope the pitch is better than the surface prepared for the most recent Test at the ground, against New Zealand in December 2023. The match was over in 177.1 overs with spinners taking all but five of the 35 wickets that fell to bowlers. The ICC handed down an "unsatisfactory" rating because of chronically inconsistent bounce from the outset.

Team news

Bangladesh

Hasan Murad replaces Shakib Al Hasan in the squad, but seems unlikely to get a game.

Possible XI: Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed

South Africa:

Temba Bavuma is out of the match with an elbow injury. Aiden Markram, who has captained South Africa in 35 white-ball internationals, takes charge of the Test team for the first time.

Possible XI: Aiden Markram (capt), Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Ryan Rickelton, Kyle Verreynne, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Dane Piedt

What they said:

"Spinners usually play a strong role in Mirpur. They don't have to try anything extra. They have to stick to the process and bowl every ball for the team. We have to find a way to take 20 wickets, which will become easier if we stick to the process." - Najmal Hossain on his team's bowling tactics.

"Spin is obviously a big talking point, especially being from South Africa. We don't get conditions like this at home, so it's an exciting challenge for us to face. Especially for a team who are relatively young and haven't played Test cricket here. It excites you as a player to be exposed to new conditions, learn more about the game we love, and take those lessons with you." - Aiden Markram sees a half-full glass of spin.

Squads:

Bangladesh Squad: Zakir Hasan, Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Najmul Hossain Shanto(c), Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das(w), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Murad, Nahid Rana, Jaker Ali, Nayeem Hasan, Mahmudul Hasan Joy

South Africa Squad: Tony de Zorzi, Aiden Markram(c), Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, David Bedingham, Ryan Rickelton, Kyle Verreynne(w), Matthew Breetzke, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Dane Paterson, Dane Piedt