A sparkling unbeaten stand of 168 between Hashim Amla and A.B. de Villiers punished a laboring West Indies bowling attack as South Africa went to tea on 225-3 on the first day of the opening Test at Centurion yesterday.
The pair came together with the Proteas in trouble at 57-3, but after steering the team safely through to lunch they launched their full array of strokes in the afternoon session on an overcast day that should have suited the bowlers.
Amla, captaining the side on home soil for the first time, resumed after the interval on 79 from 128 balls, while De Villiers was marginally quicker in his 85 off 121 balls.
Photo: AFP
The duo, South Africa’s premier batsmen since the retirement of Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith in the past 12 months, had added their 168 in 247 balls for the fourth wicket.
Amla did have a big slice of fortune when a delivery from West Indies bowler Kemar Roach brushed his off-stump in the first over after lunch, but with not enough force to dislodge the bails.
The stand dug the top-ranked Proteas out of a hole as they lost three wickets on the same score in the morning session after play had been delayed by 30 minutes due to rain.
Photo: AFP
Put in to bat, South Africa raced to 57 without loss, but a fired-up Roach, denied the new ball by captain Denesh Ramdin, produced the line and length the opening bowlers had lacked.
Jerome Taylor and Sheldon Cottrell sprayed the ball either side of the wicket and bowled too short on a slow pitch that allowed openers Alviro Petersen and Dean Elgar to put on 50 inside 10 overs before Roach was introduced.
He induced an edge from Petersen (27) to Devon Smith at first slip, then in the next over Elgar smashed a wide delivery from Cottrell straight to Marlon Samuels in the gully for 28.
A poor few minutes for South Africa got worse when Faf du Plessis feathered an edge off Roach to wicketkeeper Ramdin without scoring.
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