March 01, 2008	Saturday	Safar 22, 1429

CHITTAGONG (Bangladesh), Feb 29: Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie put on a record opening stand as South Africa seized complete control of the second Test against Bangladesh on the opening day here on Friday.

The South African skipper batted superbly for his unbeaten 223, his fourth double ton in Tests, while McKenzie also impressed with a career-best 169.

Their stand was the best ever for the opening wicket for South Africa, surpassing the 368-run partnership between Smith and Herschelle Gibbs against Pakistan in Cape Town in 2003.

At the close, South Africa were cruising at 405 without loss on a placid track at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium.

The South African pair are now within nine runs of setting a new world record for an opening stand.

India’s Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy put on 413 for the first wicket against New Zealand at Chennai in 1956.

Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid smashed the second highest score of 410 against Pakistan in 2006 at Lahore.

Smith pounded the home side’s bowlers, striking 31 fours and a six, while McKenzie hit 20 fours and two sixes to cap a miserable day for the hosts.

Smith, who reached his 200 with a cracking four past midwicket, also became the first South African to notch four double hundreds. Gary Kirsten scored three.

On a day of milestones, Smith also passed 5,000 runs in Test cricket, the fourth South African to do so.

McKenzie reached his third Test century and first in seven years in style, dancing down the pitch to retiring left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique for a straight six over long-on.

The Bangladesh bowlers toiled through the day without luck, with the pacemen erring in line too often and the spinners unable to extract any sort of turn from the placid track.

Smith was leading the side in a national record 54th Test, surpassing the mark of the late Hansie Cronje. He made his debut as Test captain in this port city in 2003.

Scoreboard

SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings):

N.D. McKenzie not out 169

G.C. Smith not out 223

EXTRAS (B-6, LB-5, NB-2) 13

TOTAL (for no wkt, 90 overs) 405

TO BAT: H.M. Amla, J.H. Kallis, A.G. Prince, A.B. de Villiers, M.V. Boucher, R.J. Peterson, M. Morkel, M. Ntini, D.W. Steyn.

BOWLING (to-date): Mashrafe Mortaza 17-3-73-0; Shahadat Hossain 19-1-90-0 (2nb); Mohammad Rafique 23-3-84-0; Abdur Razzaq 15-0-76-0; Saqibul Hasan 10-3-33-0; Mohammad Ashraful 3-0-20-0; Aftab Ahmed 5-0-18-0.

BANGLADESH: Tamim Iqbal, Junaid Siddique, Shahriar Nafees, Mohammad Ashraful, Aftab Ahmed, Saqibul Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzak, Mohammad Rafique, Shahadat Hossain.

UMPIRES: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and S.A. Bucknor (West Indies).

TV UMPIRE: Nadir Shah (Bangladesh).

MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Madugalle (Sri Lanka).—AFP