Six and a half years ago, Towhid Hridoy walked off the field in Potchefstroom as a world champion, part of Bangladesh’s trailblazing Under-19 World Cup-winning side.
On Wednesday, on the same South African ground, he walked off as something else entirely: the owner of the highest first-class score ever made by a Bangladeshi batter.
The Bangladesh ‘A’ captain finished unbeaten on a monumental 350 at the NWC Oval, a marathon that rewrote record after record and turned a routine ‘A’ tour fixture into a landmark moment for his country’s cricket.
A mountain of runs, a stack of records
Hridoy resumed the fourth and final day of the second four-day match against South Africa ‘A’ on 204 not out. He did not just push on. He occupied the crease, controlled the tempo, and kept scoring until the numbers took on a life of their own.
By the time Bangladesh declared at 676 for eight, he had batted 481 balls, struck 27 fours and launched 10 sixes. He was still there, unbeaten on 350.
That single innings did more than top a scorecard. It pushed him beyond two of the biggest names in Bangladesh’s first-class history. Tamim Iqbal’s unbeaten 334 and Raqibul Hasan’s 313* now sit behind Hridoy’s 350, the new highest first-class score by a Bangladeshi batter.
The scale of it stretched far beyond home records. Hridoy became only the third Bangladeshi to score a triple hundred in first-class cricket, and crucially, the first to do so outside Bangladesh. On South African soil, he climbed even higher on the list: his 350 is the highest first-class score by an overseas batter in the country, and he is only the second player ever to reach at least 350 in a first-class innings there, joining Stephen Cook, who made 390.
A local ground, a global statement.
Confidence, and a glimpse of the future
When the draw was agreed — South Africa ‘A’, having made 512 in their first innings, reached 18 without loss in their second before hands were shaken — the numbers were already echoing beyond Potchefstroom.
For Hridoy, the innings felt like more than just a personal milestone.
“To be honest this innings gave me a lot of confidence. After picking the Man of the Match trophy I was feeling that someday I will play an innings like this in the national team,” he said afterwards.
There was no false modesty, just a clear sense that this was a stepping stone, not a finish line. An ‘A’ tour knock, yes, but played in tough conditions, against a strong South Africa ‘A’ side, on a ground where Bangladesh once broke through at youth level. The arc is hard to miss.
Tamim’s record falls, and a captain applauds
Records often fall with a tinge of regret for those who once held them. Not this one.
Tamim Iqbal, former national captain and now BCB president, did not wait long to salute the man who pushed his 334* down the charts.
“Scoring a 350-run innings anywhere, at any level and in any context, is a remarkable achievement. But if that innings comes in South Africa, it has to be described as extraordinary,” Tamim wrote on his Facebook page.
“They say records are meant to be broken. I am very happy that my record has been broken.
“Congratulations to Towhid Hridoy on making history. Becoming the first Bangladeshi batter to reach 350 is not just a personal achievement; it is also a symbol of the progress of cricket in the country.”
From the man whose benchmark once defined excellence in Bangladesh’s first-class game, that endorsement carried weight. It also framed Hridoy’s innings not as an outlier, but as part of a broader rise in ambition and belief.
A draw, but no dead rubber
On the scoreboard, the match itself ended quietly. Bangladesh’s 676 for eight, built around Hridoy’s epic, gave them a 164-run lead over South Africa ‘A’’s 512. With the hosts 18 without loss in their second innings, the teams shook hands on a draw.
In series terms, South Africa ‘A’ had already done the damage. Their innings-and-413-run demolition of Bangladesh ‘A’ in Pretoria sealed a 1-0 win in the two-match four-day series.
Yet the mood around the tourists shifted in Potchefstroom. A side that had been blown away in the first game found, through one player’s endurance and authority, a foothold and a story to carry forward.
Eyes on Bloemfontein
The red-ball leg now gives way to white-ball cricket. Bangladesh ‘A’ and South Africa ‘A’ will meet again in a three-match one-day series, starting September 6 in Bloemfontein.
Hridoy will walk into that series as the man who turned an ‘A’ tour into a chapter of Bangladesh’s cricket history. The question now is simple: can an innings like this, carved out over 481 balls in Potchefstroom, become the launchpad for the same kind of dominance in national colours?
