Proteas make solid start

Chittagong - Dean Elgar and Stiaan van Zyl shared a fifty partnership in the opening stand as South Africa made a brisk start Tuesday in the first Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong.

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The visitors reached 104-1 at lunch on the opening day after skipper Hashim Amla won the toss and elected to bat on an easy pitch at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.

Off-spinner Mahmudullah took the only wicket of the morning when van Zyl edged a catch to wicketkeeper Litton Das down the leg side to end his 58-run opening stand with Elgar.

Van Zyl led the early charge, hitting six boundaries as he scored 34 runs off 49 balls.

Elgar, was unbeaten on 30, while Faf du Plessis had reached 33 by the interval as the Proteas looked to bounce back from their 2-1 loss in the preceding one-day international series.

Bangladesh handed left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman a Test debut after his impressive start in ODI as he claimed 18 wickets in his first six matches

Mustafizur joined pacer Mohammad Shahid, left-arm spinners Shakib Al Hasan and Taijul Islam and leg-spinner Jubair Hossain in a five-pronged attack for the home side.

South Africa left out four uncapped players Aaron Phangiso, Kagiso Rabada, Reeza Hendricks and Dane Vilas.

The second and final Test of the series will be held in Dhaka from July 30 to August 3.