Seam bowlers will enjoy conditions at Wanderers and SuperSport Park

The Proteas remain wary of Bangladesh ahead of next Sunday’s first Test, but there’s a sense that the Tigers have wasted the momentum and confidence from their seismic victory in Australia.

That nine-wicket win in Darwin three months ago, only Bangladesh’s second in the SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) countries, was seen as a potential catalyst for the Asian sub-continent team.

But since then, they’ve lost a subsequent Test in two days to the Australians, drew against Afghanistan, and then lost at home to the West Indies. “Since Darwin, we haven’t batted well,” Bangladesh coach Phil Simmons admitted.

“We showed what we’re capable of if the determination to bat is there; but since that Test, we’ve not batted well in the formats we have played.”

We showed what we are capable of if the determination to bat is there – Phil Simmons, Bangladesh coach

Bangladesh were dismissed for less than a hundred in both innings by the Australians in the second Test of that August series; with several of their batters failing to turn starts into innings of substance against Afghanistan and against the West Indies, they were spun out by Jomel Warrican and Roston Chase.

They will not find spinning pitches at either the Wanderers or SuperSport Park, which will host the two-match Test series.

Seam-bowling resources

It may be that the fast, bouncy pitches at the two Gauteng venues are not to their batters’ liking — given they will have to face Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Anrich Nortje — but they will have the seam-bowling resources to trouble a Proteas batting line-up that is still finding its feet.

Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud and Shoriful Islam have shared 45 wickets between them this year, with Hasan’s match figures of 9/111 in Darwin one of the stand-out performances of 2026.

Shoriful, who wasn’t selected for the second Test currently underway against the West Indies, took 7/48, the third-best figures of all time for Bangladesh in the Mackay Test against Australia.

Taskin, the most experienced of the seamers, says communication between the group has been crucial to their recent success.

“As a fast-bowling unit, we make it a point to share our success stories with one another. Discussing the processes has led to our success and the factors that have helped us maintain consistency. We genuinely believe that a single piece of advice from one of us could prove beneficial to a teammate,” he said.

Heavy favourites

India and South Africa are the only two nations against whom Bangladesh have not recorded a Test win, so they won’t be short of motivation for the series.

The Proteas, off the back of the sensational series win against the Australians, will be heavy favourites for the two-match series, but need to be careful of looking too far ahead.

The England series in December is obviously keenly anticipated, but part of the journey towards qualifying for next year’s World Test Championship final includes taking care of business in the next few weeks.

The main frontline bowlers — including Jansen and Rabada — will be rested for the ODI and T20 series that follow the Tests.