No double ton for ambitious De Zorzi, but Proteas strengthen their grip

Though he delivered in spectacular fashion, top-order batter Tony de Zorzi admitted on Wednesday he was a little disappointed he didn’t turn his first international century into a double ton.

De Zorzi led a remarkable effort by the Proteas batters as they strengthened their grip on day two of the second Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong.

Resuming their first innings at 307/2 in the morning session, opening batter De Zorzi went on to make 177 runs, while Wiaan Mulder contributed 105 not out, before they declared at 575/6 in the final session.

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After Tristan Stubbs hit 106 the day before, it was only the second time in the history of Test cricket that three players made their maiden international centuries in the same innings.

In addition, David Bedingham (59) and Senuran Muthusamy (68 not out) contributed half-centuries to their team’s cause.

In response, Bangladesh got off to a poor start, and they were left flailing at 38/4 at stumps, trailing by 537 runs in their first innings.

“It’s not often you have time in Test cricket these days when you can bat at one tempo for as long as possible, so the opportunity was definitely there for me to get a double, or even more,” De Zorzi said.

“But ultimately it wasn’t about me today. The big man upstairs wanted to give an opportunity to someone else, and Wiaan (Mulder) and Sen (Muthusamy) came and took that, so I’m happy for them.”

Giving Mulder a chance

De Zorzi admitted it was touch-and-go in terms of whether they should let Mulder reach his maiden Test ton before the Proteas declared.

Having batted as well as they did over the first couple of days of the match, however, it allowed Mulder to reach the milestone before they sent their hosts in to bat.

“We still wanted to bowl before the light dropped, but he was edging closer and closer and he had batted so while, so because of the time we had built in the game, he was obviously afforded the right to have that special moment, and I’m glad he got over the line.”

Bangladesh will resume their first innings this morning with a mountain to climb, needing 537 runs to close the gap with just six wickets in hand.