UPDATE: Proteas ignore technical glitch to reach 95 without loss

South Africa’s journey to 95 without loss at lunch on the first day of the first Test against Bangladesh in Durban on Thursday was as smooth and untroubled as the Proteas could possibly have hoped for given the disrupted start to the match at Kingsmead.

With Bangladesh winning the toss and electing to bowl first on a steamy morning, Dean Elgar had taken guard and was ready to face the first ball as Taskin Ahmed was at the top of his run-up.

And then the fiasco started with the electronic portion of the sightscreen which shows the name of the series title sponsor refusing to change back to white at the Mgeni End that Taskin was due to bowl from.

Cricket South Africa confirmed they had tested the system before the start of the match and it worked fine, but in typical technological fashion, come the real deal and it failed.

It meant a 33-minute delay as white tarpaulins had to be draped over the offending signboards, with the players and umpires leaving the field.

Late start

When poor old Taskin did eventually bowl his first ball, perhaps unsurprisingly it was a filthy leg-stump full toss which Elgar comfortably clipped away to the midwicket boundary.

That set the tone for the rest of the session and it was smooth sailing for Elgar and his fellow left-handed opener Sarel Erwee.

Elgar continued to score profitably through the leg side and raced to a pugnacious 60 not out off just 76 balls.

Erwee went to the break on 32 and had been untroubled until the third ball before lunch when he top-edged a cut at off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz, but wicketkeeper Liton Das snatched at the catch and dropped it.

Bangladesh were looking increasingly frustrated by the conditions clearly not supporting their decision to bowl first, with South Africa racing to 60/0 in 13 overs.

But Taskin returned and bowled a tidy five-over second spell to peg the run-rate back.

The Proteas batters are nevertheless well placed for a rampaging afternoon to set up a big first-innings total and then unleash their two spinners, Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer, who is playing his first Test since November 2015.

South Africa have also handed debuts to in-form paceman Lizaad Williams and batsman Ryan Rickelton.

Duanne Olivier has been preferred to Lutho Sipamla, a frustrating decision given how encouraging Sipamla’s performance was in the previous Test, the big win over New Zealand in Christchurch.