South Africa U19 suffered a 130-run defeat to Bangladesh U19 in the opening Youth ODI in Benoni on Thursday.

SA U19 captain Muhammad Bulbulia recorded an excellent 72 off 79 deliveries (four fours, three sixes) at Willowmoore Park, nearly half of the 155 all out managed by the hosts in pursuit of the 286-run target set by the tourists.

Opener Bulbulia was man alone with the bat, though, lacking support and which ultimately led to his side being dismissed in 32.1 overs.

However, there was one strong bowling performance from a South African earlier with JJ Basson grabbing 4-47 to help restrict the visitors to 285-6 after the home side won the toss and chose to bowl first.

That final total threatened to be far bigger earlier when Zawad Abrar (70 off 61 balls, nine fours, two sixes), Rizan Hossan (63 off 55 balls; five fours, three sixes) and MD Abdullah (63 off 76 balls; seven fours) put their side into a powerful position by each scoring strong half-centuries.

But from 228-3 in the 41st over, seamer Basson helped drag the Bangladeshis back in the final nine overs to keep the total well below 300.

The South Africans needed a good start to their reply and they got it through Bulbulia.

But he kept losing partners at the other end, starting with Jorich van Schalkwyk (nought) and Armaan Manack (three), both of whom fell to Iqbal Hossain (3-26).

Then when Daniel Bosman was caught and bowled by Rizan Hossan (1-14), the home side found themselves in further strife, on 42-3.

Kamogelo Phiri (eight) and Vihan Pretorius (six) were then outfoxed by the excellent Shadhin Islam (3-29) making it 70-5, before Paul James (24) hung around long enough to help his skipper take the total past 100.

However, he too was on his way soon followed by the rest of the tail and the innings ended when star man Bulbulia was last man out to Islam handing the away side the series lead.

The three-match series continues at the same venue on Saturday.

Photo: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images