South Africa snuff out three after Elgar, Amla tons

Bangladesh 127 for 3 (Mominul 28*, Tamim 22*) trail South Africa 496 for 3 dec (Elgar 199, Amla 137) by 369 runs

South Africa had well and truly established their dominance over Bangladesh by the time they walked off on the second evening at Senwes Park, making important inroads into the Bangladesh line-up in the final session. That, after they declared their first innings on 496 for 3, highlighted by Dean Elgar, who missed out on a maiden Test double century by one run.

Bangladesh went into stumps at 127 for 3, having lost the big wicket of their captain Mushfiqur Rahim half an hour before the close. The timing of the dismissal left Bangladesh precariously placed, but Tamim Iqbal, who did not take his customary position at the top of the order, joined Mominul Haque to see off the crucial final period, Tamim ending the day with a huge six off the left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj.

The talk of the day, however, was Elgar, who became the 10th batsman in history to fall at 199. South Africa's innings lost steam after his exit halfway through the middle session, before Faf du Plessis opted not to bat on after the tea break and declared.

South Africa dominated pretty much all of the first two sessions. Elgar and Hashim Amla eased away to milestones - Elgar moving to his first 150-plus score and Amla notching up his 27th Test century to tie Graeme Smith at second place among South Africa's leading Test centurions. The fluency of both batsmen meant that the first session yielded 113 runs.

Bangladesh's wicketless spell ended in the first over after lunch when Amla fell for 137, offering a simple catch to backward point off seamer Shafiul Islam. Elgar calmly moved into the 190s, but as he edged closer, nerves took over. He miscued a hoick on 195, but luckily for him, the ball fell wide of short third-man. He wasn't so lucky in the next over, when a half-hearted pull to a short delivery from Mustafizur Rahman took the top-edge and settled into the hands of midwicket.

As Mominul completed a simple catch, a heartbroken Elgar trudged off towards the dressing room amid congratulatory gestures from the Bangladesh players, bringing to an end a superb effort that had lasted over nine hours. Bavuma and du Plessis then got together for an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 51 before du Plessis decided he had had enough.

With Tamim having spent large parts of the session out of the field, Bangladesh were forced to push Liton Das up the order despite him having kept wicket for 146 overs.

It took less than six overs for the first signs of trouble to emerge. Imrul Kayes was undone by a short ball from Kagiso Rabada that crept on him considerably. With the ball angling away from him, Imrul failed to take his hands out, gloving a catch to gully.

Liton looked more comfortable against the short ball, twice pulling Morne Morkel with ease. But he fell to a fuller ball in Morkel's next over, playing away from the body to send an edge the way of Amla at first slip.

At 36 for 2, Mushfiqur and Mominul Haque joined hands to save Bangladesh from a top-order meltdown, choosing to counter-attack. Mushfiqur began with a boundary through point and Mominul pulled Rabada twice the following over. Despite his short stay, Mushfiqur's strike rate of 77.19 was enough to get South Africa to start opening up the field to him and switch to a fuller length.

Maharaj, however, troubled Mushfiqur immediately after the drinks break, finding his outside edge in successive overs, Mushfiqur closing his bat against the turn both times. But on both occasions, Elgar dropped straightforward chances.

Mushfiqur continued to tackle the short deliveries well but didn't look totally in control against Maharaj. He did smack him for six, with his favoured slog sweep, but Maharaj eventually had his man. After having found Mushfiqur's outside edge with ones that spun away, Maharaj got one to drift into the right-hander and find the inside-edge to have him caught off the bat-pad at short leg.

Tamim walked in at No. 5 for the first time in his career and manfully saw off Bangladesh in the company of Mominul. They tackled a dicey last 8.5 overs with few nervous moments, before Tamim finished off the day by running out to Maharaj and lofting him for six over long-on.