CENTURION: Taskin Ahmed and Tamim Iqbal starred as Bangladesh sealed an historic series triumph with a nine-wicket win in the third One-day International against South Africa at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Wednesday.

Fast bowler Taskin took five for 35 as South Africa were bowled out for 154, their lowest total against Bangladesh.

Visiting captain Tamim then scored 87 not out off 82 balls to take Bangladesh to victory with 23.3 overs to spare, sharing a century opening partnership with Liton Das (48).

Bangladesh won the World Cup Super League series by two matches to one, consolidating their place at the top of the table.

South Africa were left languishing in ninth place and in danger of missing one of the eight automatic qualifying places for the 2023 Cricket World Cup.

Bangladesh had lost all 19 matches across all formats against South Africa on their home soil before winning the series opener by 38 runs at the same venue on Friday.

South Africa won the second match by seven wickets in Johannesburg but Bangladesh dominated Wednesday’s series decider.

The Proteas made a fast start, with Janneman Malan and Quinton de Kock putting on 46 for the first wicket inside seven overs.

But Taskin bowled superbly after off-spinner Mehidy Hasan made the first breakthrough by dismissing De Kock.

Taskin, 26, produced his best performance since taking five for 28 on debut against India on debut in Mirpur in 2014. He bowled at a lively pace in three spells and troubled all the batters.

With South Africa defending a low total, Keshav Maharaj dropped Litton Das at backward point off Kagiso Rabada in the first over of the Bangladesh innings before Das had scored.

Das and Tamim took full advantage of the let-off, putting on 127 for the first wicket.

Scoreboard

SOUTH AFRICA:

J. Malan c Mushfiqur b Taskin 39

Q. de Kock c Mahmudullah b Mehidy 12

K. Verreynne b Taskin 9

T. Bavuma lbw b Shakib 2

R. van der Dussen c Mehidy b Shoriful 4

D. Miller c Mushfiqur b Taskin 16

D. Pretorius c Mushfiqur b Taskin 20

K. Maharaj run out (Tamim) 28

K. Rabada c Mushfiqur b Taskin 4

L. Ngidi c sub (Najmul) b Shakib 0

T. Shamsi not out 3

EXTRAS (LB-8, W-9) 17

TOTAL (all out, 37 overs) 154

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-46 (de Kock), 2-66 (Verreynne), 3-69 (Malan), 4-71 (Bavuma), 5-83 (van der Dussen), 6-107 (Pretorius), 7-122 (Miller), 8-126 (Rabada), 9-144 (Ngidi).

BOWLING: Shoriful 7-0-37-1 (1w), Mustafizur 7-0-23-0, Mehidy 5-0 27-1, Taskin 9-0-35-5 (3w), Shakib 9-0-24-2 (1w).

BANGLADESH:

Tamim Iqbal not out 87

Liton Das c Bavuma b Maharaj 48

Shakib Al Hasan not out 18

EXTRAS (W-3) 3

TOTAL (for one wicket, 26.3 overs) 156

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-127 (Liton).

DID NOT BAT: Mushfiqur Rahim, Yasir Ali, Mahmudullah, Afif Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman.

BOWLING: Rabada 5.3-0-37-0 (2w), Ngidi 5-0-24-0, Maharaj 7-0-36-1, Shamsi 7-0-41-0 (1w), Pretorius 2-0-18-0.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2022