South Africa stretch lead to 230 after Maharaj's three

South Africa 496 for 3 dec and 54 for 2 (Amla 17*, Bavuma 3*) lead Bangladesh 320 (Mominul 77, Mahmudullah 66, Maharaj 3-92) by 230 runs

Bangladesh batted for most of the third day and threatened South Africa at times. But the home side fought back with a clean-up job of the visiting team's tail and furthered their lead to 230 runs. When play was called off due to bad light at Senwes Park, they were 54 for 2.

Hashim Amla and Temba Bavuma batted out the last 4.5 overs with some ease after Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram were snuffed out early in South Africa's second innings. Elgar was first to go, after using up a review when Shafiul Islam trapped him in front of middle and leg with one that curved in from back of a length. Aiden Markram chased a Mustafizur Rahman cutter that broke away from him and edged behind. Unlike Elgar, he didn't challenge the decision, and replays showed his bat had bumped into the ground at the same moment the ball took his outside edge.

Bangladesh could possibly have been looking at a much smaller deficit but for a lower-order meltdown that resulted in them losing their last five wickets for 28 runs. Keshav Maharaj bowled well for South Africa despite being attacked at times and finished with three wickets.

Bangladesh had done well to move close to the follow-on mark when Sabbir Rahman chopped on a short ball from Duanne Olivier after finding the bounce too disconcerting. But with Mahmudullah well-set on 59, it had at least seemed like Bangladesh would comfortably pass their highest Test score against South Africa, of 326.

South Africa decided to take the second new ball halfway into the 84th over and immediately struck, Morkel getting Mahmudullah to chase a length ball and chop it on. A moment's brilliance from Temba Bavuma at backward point caught Taskin Ahmed short of his crease, and by the time tea was taken, Bangladesh had lost three wickets in six overs.

South Africa needed just 19 more balls after the break to take out the last two batsmen. With the ball hard and new, out came the short stuff. Rabada bounced out Mehidy Hasan second ball after the break. Maharaj then found Shafiul Islam's outside edge with one that straightened from middle and off, Amla pouching an excellent catch at first slip.

It was far from how the day had begun for Bangladesh. Morkel and Rabada bowled well at the start of the first two sessions but were wicketless in those periods. As a result, Bangladesh added 91 runs in the first session for the loss of just Tamim Iqbal.

Tamim was at times lucky during his stay and survived a blazing opening spell from Rabada. Eventually, he fell to a diving, one-handed catch from Quinton de Kock, who anticipated early and moved to his right, giving Andile Phehlukwayo his maiden Test wicket.

Thereafter, Mominul Haque and Mahmudullah buckled down. Mominul, who had looked solid on the second evening, fought through a tough initial spell in the morning, collecting his first runs of the day after 30 testing deliveries.

That moment also marked Bangladesh finally opening up, as they took 17 runs off one Rabada over. Fed plenty of deliveries that were angled into his body, Mominul collected eight boundaries through the leg side, five of them between mid-on and midwicket.

Mahmudullah took a bit of time to settle down, but once he did, the on-the-up drives, cuts and slog sweeps came out, one of which helped Bangladesh avoid the follow-on and bring up the 300. Mahmudullah adjusted well when Faf du Plessis placed two short covers, placing his shots through the empty third-man region.

Their stand of 69 was broken in the fourth over after lunch when Mominul fell for 77. He had gone seven innings without a half-century since his 64 in Wellington in January.

Mahmudullah and Sabbir then added 65 for the sixth wicket before both batsmen dragged deliveries on to their stumps. They should have pushed on to bigger scores, but their break in concentration was the theme of Bangladesh's reply.