SA Emerging and Bangladesh Emerging had to settle for a draw on the final day of the first four-day match in Chattogram.
Tshepo Ntuli took two wickets for the tourists on Friday as the hosts were reduced to 41-5, before recovering to reach 83-5 when the two captains eventually shook hands after just 35 overs had been bowled on the day due to rain. At that stage, the home side were 148 runs ahead.
The series now moves to Dhaka for the final match of the tour that begins on Tuesday.
The South Africans will take plenty of heart heading to that game after coming back strongly in the first game. Having been bowled out with a 65-run first-innings deficit on Thursday, they ended the day strongly by reducing Bangladesh to 5-2.
They continued to make inroads on day four when captain Shahadat Hossain (two) was removed with the fourth ball of the day, bowled by Andile Simelane (2-15) to leave the score at 8-3.
Aich Mollah (11) and Ariful Islam (14) momentarily stemmed the flow of wickets with their 24-run stand, but spinner Ntuli got rid of both of them to put the home side back into a fix at 41-5.
However, Pritom Kumar (21*) and Moin Khan (18*) then dug in further with a stand that took their side right through to the eventual finish.
