Ireland captain Trent Johnston spoke of the grueling conditions his side faced in 92F heat coupled with high humidity, “That’s certainly one of the hardest days I’ve spent on a cricket field. A lot of the guys have struggled not just with the heat but also the humidity. We knew what the pitch and the bowling was likely to be, but that doesn’t make it any easier to adapt to.”

“We lost early wickets, and couldn’t get any sort of momentum built up in the batting. I thought 185 was a fair score given that we were struggling on 115 for 6 after 35.”

“We were never able to get any sort of control on the game when they batted. They hit the ball well and scored pretty quickly. Our opening bowlers struggled, and Dave Langford-Smith has been carrying an injury.”

Johnston remained positive about the rest of the Series saying, “We’ll sit down with the coaching staff and come up with a plan for the rest of the games. We’re determined we can improve and get a favourable result in the last two games.”

Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful was a relieved man to get a win under his belt, “Given all that has happened lately there was a bit of pressure obviously when I went in. So it was nice to get some runs. I think the bowlers made the job easier for us and Mortaza was outstanding. Nafees also played the perfect anchor’s role and I enjoyed batting with him,” said Ashraful.

“Ash has been working really hard in the nets. He made some bad decisions in recent times but today he stuck to the team rules and the result and reward was for everyone to see. If he remembers that most of the time then he’ll see similar success,” said Tigers coach Jamie Siddons who also praised the team effort.

“In the past I think we were a more entertaining team and worried about entertaining the crowd than win matches. I want to see a team that wins and is competitive and that will entertain the crowd. If we had won and not stuck to the team rules then I would have been very upset. I am pleased with our overall performance today and it was good to see the boys applying some of the things I am trying to instill in them.”

Despite the comprehensive victory Siddons was still cautious about the prospects in the series. “I have been saying this for weeks that South Africa are the number one team in the world and we are number nine. The difference now is that we are playing the tenth-ranked side and in our conditions we should beat them if we play to our potential. But they will have a better idea about the conditions and the wickets after this match, just like South Africa after they got into trouble in the first Test, and if we don’t raise our game and not follow the team rules then they can beat us. They are a determined bunch and good competition to have.”

“Mortaza was rewarded for perseverance. We left him out of a few matches and had him batting at number 11. We wanted to make him realise that he needs to be a lot more disciplined in the way he plays his cricket. He is learning along the way. Today he bowled in the right places and swung the ball. He is getting better,” said Siddons