Wet outfield forces early end to match

The rain was not even there but it had the last say in this series. The final day of the Dhaka Test was called off before the scheduled start of play, and despite clear skies, because the outfield was deemed too waterlogged to play on. That meant four of the five days in this match were washed out and six of the 10 in the series overall, and will lead to questions over the wisdom of scheduling a series in the midst of the monsoon.

South Africa will wonder most about that. The cost of the shared spoils is five points on the Test rankings, which does not rob them of their No. 1 spot but will close the gap between them and the chasing pack, irrespective of the final outcome of the Ashes. Bangladesh gain six points and no movement on the table but would have earned some respect for their plucky performance across both games.

Things were just threatening to go awry for the hosts when the weather intervened. After a solid show for most of day one – the only day when play was possible – steered by their captain Mushfiqur Rahim, they lost 4 for 31 in the last hour. By then, Dale Steyn had found substantial reverse swing after earlier becoming the 13th bowler, and second South African, to take 400 Test wickets.

Steyn was in his 17th over when play stopped. He, and the rest of the two teams, spent the last four nights waiting for it to restart.

Heavy rain, some monsoonal, some caused by cyclone Komen, washed out days two, three and four and the aftermath made play impossible on day five. Despite the porous draining system, the outfield had taken too much rain. The umpires gauged it would take between four and five hours to dry before any action could begin, and it being the final day, decided that was impractical.

Instead, both teams will have another day to wonder what could have been, at the end of what has been an impressive series for Bangladesh against a South Africa still slowly stirring from a three-month break. Bangladesh will now enjoy some time off while South Africa return home for a limited-overs series against New Zealand before a high-profile tour of India and a home series against England.

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