South Africa complete whitewash

It was hard to escape the feeling of déjà vu at East London yesterday. It was the end of another series on Bangladesh's tour of South Africa and the Proteas had completely outplayed the Tigers with a series whitewash. What made it seem very similar to the end of the Test series was the utter lack of gumption and fight from Bangladesh, who just seemed to want the series to be over with. That being the case, they got their wish as South Africa won the third ODI by a whopping 200 runs after scoring 369 for six, giving the hosts the long foretold and expected 3-0 whitewash.

The reaction when AB de Villiers caught Mehedi Hasan Miraz off Imran Tahir to end Bangladesh's innings at 169 in 40.4 overs said it all -- De Villiers just completed the catch and rolled the ball on the ground without a hint of celebration, such has been the completeness of South Africa's superiority over their opponents. The one place where this improves upon the Test series' end in Bloemfontein is that this is only the second-largest margin of defeat for Bangladesh against South Africa in ODIs while the innings-and-254-run hammering in Bloemfontein was the biggest in terms of runs in Tests against South Africa.

But even though the captaincy has changed from the Tests, the lack of fight seemed identical. The bowlers were toothless in conceding 369 on a belter of a pitch and by the time it was the batsmen's turn, the shots played only seemed to hint that they want to be done with the series. Imrul Kayes scored one before he charged Dane Paterson in the second over and lobbed it to mid off to give the rookie his first ODI wicket. Liton Das was dismissed leg-before playing across the line against Paterson, a marginal decision that left Bangladesh in the fourth over.

There will be no prizes for guessing how Soumya Sarkar, playing his first game of the series in place of the injured Tamim Iqbal, got out. There was a waft and an edge involved, slip was the position -- the variables were De Villiers taking a fine catch and Rabada bowling an innocuous delivery outside off stump. The score was then 20 for three in the fifth over, and by then the expectation was that Bangladesh would try for respectability and reach around 250 on a flat wicket, like they had done in the second match when faced with a similar chase.

That, however, was expecting too much fight as apart from Shakib Al Hasan's 63 and Sabbir Rahman's 39 there was not a single score above eight in the top seven. The only other double-digit scores were 17 from skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and a result-delaying 15 from Mehedi.

Mushfiqur gave the charge and was caught at mid off off the bowling of Andile Phehlukwayo, and Riyad followed 10 runs later in the 15th over, swinging across the line and being trapped plumb in front by debutant Willem Mulder and leaving the side on 61 for five. Shakib and Sabbir's 67-run sixth-wicket stand avoided utter embarrassment and gave the fans something to cheer about when Shakib reached his 35th ODI fifty with a nudge to deep square leg off Tahir in the 24th over.

But it was not to last as Shakib gave part-time off-spinner Aiden Markram his maiden wicket in the 31st over, hoisting him into the arms of deep midwicket for an 82-ball 63. Sabbir soon edged behind off the same bowler to make it 135 for seven. Mashrafe was caught behind off Paterson and Taskin Ahmed was caught off Tahir in the 41st over, three balls before the leg-spinner performed the predictable last rites.

Earlier, it was another toothless bowling display from Bangladesh which helped South Africa reach 369 for six. There was however to be no repeat of the AB de Villiers show as the master batsman was out for just 20 in the 46th over to Rubel Hossain for the second match in a row, to leave South Africa on 325 for four. Rubel and Taskin Ahmed then bowled some good yorkers to extract the wickets of Willem Mulder and Andile Phehlukwayo, both taken by Taskin in the 47th over, but at the end they seemed to lose their lengths as fast bowler Kagiso Rabada cashed in on half volleys and full tosses to score an 11-ball 23 with three fours and a six.

The match started with the South African skipper Faf du Plessis winning the toss for the first time this series, but if there were hopes that the trend of the toss winner losing the match would continue today, it was quickly extinguished by the start provided by Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma, who replaced the rested Hashim Amla for this match. De Kock started the innings with a boundary through the off side off the very first ball from skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and that set the tone for the innings, a note that was amplified by three boundaries in the next over off off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz, who replaced Nasir Hossain for this match.

There was no respite for Bangladesh, as South Africa regularly kept picking more than six runs an over either through boundaries or runs almost off every ball. In the 14th over, De Kock brought up his fifty off his 47th ball with a single off Mehedi, and with a lofted boundary off Rubel in the next over brought up the century stand -- the fourth conceded by Bangladesh to South Africa's openers in six innings on tour. 

Mehedi got his first wicket on tour when he got rid of Bavuma for 48 in the 18th over when the right-hander holed out to long on and in the 22nd over, had De Kock caught at midwicket for 73.

Skipper Du Plessis and debutant Aiden Markram then put on a 151-run partnership for the third wicket in just 19 overs as Mashrafe inexplicably released what little pressure Shakib Al Hasan and Mehedi had exerted by bringing on part-timer Mahmudullah Riyad, who conceded 33 off three, including 17 in an over. Markram was later dropped on 54 by keeper Mushfiqur in the 37th over from Shakib.

Du Plessis then seemed to pull a muscle in the 41st  over and had to leave the field on 91, paving the way for De Villiers. Later in that over, Markram was run out for 66 courtesy of a direct hit from Imrul Kayes.

Taskin ended with figures of two for 66 off seven, Rubel was taken for 75 off his 10, Mashrafe conceded 69 off nine. Only Mehedi and Shakib, with two for 59 and none for 56 respectively, conceded less than six an over.