Proteas await day four assessment

Cape Town - The Proteas will 'assess' the state of the conditions before making a call on a possible target to set Bangladesh in the first Test match at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom.

Bad light brought an early end to the third day, with the Proteas holding a 230-run lead with eight second innings wickets in hand.

The loss of time, the uncertainty around the conditions and Bangladesh's fighting first innings score of 320 - which is their highest score in South Africa - are all factors Faf du Plessis and the management will be considering as they plot the way to victory. 

"It (pitch) hasn’t deteriorated as much as most people expected it to," left-arm spinner, Keshav Maharaj said at stumps on Saturday.

"We will have to see how things pan out tomorrow, see if there is overnight rain and how it will affect the pitch tomorrow.

"The bad light interfering and taking out an hour from the day's play has taken some time out of the game," he said.

"We will have to assess tomorrow morning and take it from there. The batsmen give us the best feedback on the conditions, if it is getting worse or getting better to bat on."

Maharaj once again showed impressive control and tact against an aggressive approach from Bangladesh's batsmen, finishing with 3/92 in friendly batting conditions.

He will hope for more of the same in their second innings, which promises to be a good contest as both teams eye victory.    

"We know that the Bangladesh side is quite an attacking side," Maharaj said.

"At times, yes we were surprised by some of the shots they played but we do know that they like to take the game away from the opposition.

"Although they had a high run-rate at the time we did feel there were opportunities that came up," he said. "We had  structured conversations in terms of bringing the run-rate down which would then hopefully bring some wickets here and there."

Play will start at 10h00 on Sunday with Hashim Amla (17) and Temba Bavuma (3) resuming the innings on 54/2.

The lost time will be made up during the sessions throughout the day.