Hridoy declared on himself at 350 not out, and no Bangladesh batter has made more
Towhid Hridoy’s unbeaten 350 at Potchefstroom is the highest first-class score by a Bangladesh batter, past Tamim Iqbal’s 334 from 2020. South Africa A still won the series 1-0.
Sep 3, 2026
Towhid Hridoy walked out at Senwes Park with Bangladesh A 37 for 2 and South Africa A’s 512 already on the board. Three days later he was still there, unbeaten on 350, declaring the innings closed on himself. No Bangladesh batter has ever made more in a first-class match.
Three days at the crease
The innings began on the second afternoon of the four-day game in Potchefstroom and finished on the fourth. Hridoy was 75 not out at stumps on day two with Jaker Ali for company, 204 not out at the end of day three, and 350 not out when he called his batters in at 676 for 8. It took him 481 balls. He hit 27 fours and 10 sixes and scored at a shade over 72 per hundred balls, which for an innings that long is brisk rather than grinding.
He had help. Jaker Ali made 94 and added 151 with him for the fifth wicket, then Mohammad Saifuddin made 87 and put on 185 for the sixth. The one that mattered most came last: Rejaur Rahman Raja, batting at No. 10, blocked out 110 balls for 31 not out while Hridoy went from 300 to 350. Kyle Simmonds bowled 59 overs for South Africa A and came away with 4 for 239.
The list he climbed
The record he passed belonged to Tamim Iqbal, whose 334 not out came in a Bangladesh Cricket League match in Dhaka in February 2020. Before this week only Tamim and Raqibul Hasan, who made 313 not out in a National Cricket League game in 2007, had scored first-class triple hundreds for Bangladesh. Both did it at home. Hridoy is the first to do it anywhere else.
The South African side of the ledger is the odder one. His 350 not out is the second-highest first-class score ever made in the country, behind Stephen Cook’s 390 and ahead of Daryll Cullinan’s 337 not out from 1993. He is also only the second visiting batter to reach a first-class triple century in South Africa. The first was Denis Compton, who made 300 against North Eastern Transvaal at Benoni in December 1948 in 181 minutes, still the fastest triple hundred anyone has scored.
Bangladesh A’s own record book took a hit as well. Shahriar Hossain’s double hundred in 2003 had been the highest score for the side, and 676 for 8 is the highest total they have posted.
Tamim’s response
Tamim, who has been the president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board since April, put a note on Facebook while the innings was still fresh. “They say that records are made to be broken. I am very happy that my record has been broken,” he wrote, adding that scoring 350 in South Africa made it “not only a personal achievement, but also a symbol of the progress of the country’s cricket.”
Hridoy had already marked the ground himself. After reaching 200 on the third day he pointed out that Senwes Park is where Bangladesh beat India to win the Under-19 World Cup in February 2020, a side he was part of. Two of his team-mates from that final, Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Parvez Hossain Emon, batted in the top three in this match. Between them they faced 32 balls. Hridoy faced 481.
South Africa A still took the series
All of that batting produced a draw. South Africa A had made 512 in their first innings through Sinethemba Qeshile’s 128, Lesego Senokwane’s 111 and a 97 from Gavin Kaplan. Once Bangladesh A declared there was time for 12 overs, and the hosts closed on 18 for 0.
South Africa A won the two-match series 1-0 anyway, and that was settled in Pretoria the week before in a game Hridoy did not play. Bangladesh A were bowled out for 122 and 112 either side of a South Africa A total of 647 for 6 declared, Marques Ackerman making 256 and Qeshile 200 not out. It was finished inside three days by an innings and 413 runs. Hridoy arrived for the second match, took the captaincy, and batted for most of it.