Second Test, Dhaka, day one: South Africa 264-6 (at close) v Bangladesh

Mohammad Rafique's figures were the best of his career

Jacques Rudolph and Mark Boucher led the recovery after Bangladesh had made an excellent start at the Bangabhandu Stadium.

After an innings victory in the opening Test, South Africa struggled to come to terms with a slow, turning pitch and lost their first four wickets with only 63 on the board.

Left-arm spinner Mohammed Rafique was the chief tormentor, justifying his recall by sending down 29 overs in the day for figures of 4-59.

But Rudolph and Boucher both made 71, and Shaun Pollock was 41 not out at the close, with debutant Robin Peterson on 15.

South African skipper Graeme Smith chose to bat first after winning the toss but he and opening partner Herschelle Gibbs never found their normal fluency.

Home skipper Khaled Mahmud sent down five successive maidens during the morning as Bangladesh bowled with impressive discipline.

Smith paid the price for a mis-timed pull shot to a ball from seamer Tapash Baisya after reaching 15 and Mohammad Ashraful took the catch at deep square leg.

I think that is probably worth about 320 on this track - scoring runs is hard work Mark Boucher

The tourists then suffered a double blow just before lunch.

Gibbs lost patience after making 21 from 65 balls and hit Rafique to mid-on and Boeta Dippenaar went for a single to the final ball before lunch, giving a bat-pad catch off the same bowler.

Bangladesh's sole success during the afternoon came when Neil McKenzie was lbw to Rafique for seven as Rudolph, who hit 11 fours, and Boucher put on 107 for the fifth wicket.

Rudolph, a double centurion in Chittagong, had his sights set on another three figure score, but strayed from his crease to a ball from Mohammad Ashraful and Mohammad Salim completed the stumping.

Boucher survived for almost three hours before trying to cut an arm ball from Rafique with the total on 219, but Pollock and Peterson played out the remaining 15 overs to the close.

Bangladesh: Khaled Mahmud (captain), Javed Omar, Mehrab Hossain, Habibul Bashar, Akram Khan, Mohammad Ashraful, Mohammad Selim, Alok Kapali, Mohammad Rafique, Tapash Baishya and Mashrafe-bin-Murtaza.

South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Herschelle Gibbs, Boeta Dippenaar, Jacques Rudolph, Mark Boucher, Neil McKenzie, Shaun Pollock, Paul Adams, Allan Dawson, Makhaya Ntini and Robin Peterson.

Umpires: Steve Bucknor (West Indie); Billy Bowden (New Zealand)