Scorecard

After an uncertain opening day, South Africa got a strong foothold in the second Test against India as they finished at 328 and made the early breakthrough before lunch on the second day in Durban on Wednesday.

Andre Nel sent Virender Sehwag back in the first over as India went into the break at 24 for one.

Earlier, the last two South African wickets added 71 runs as the hosts compiled a healthy first innings total.

India innings

The first ball of the Indian innings, from Andre Nel, took Wasim Jaffer's glove, eluded a diving Martk Boucher, and raced down to the fine leg fence - make of that what you will, by way of portent or symbolism.

The last ball of the same over was outside off and on length, lifting and moving late; Virender Sehwag, facing for the first time in this innings, went for the drive on the up, got the by now regulation edge, and was superbly held at second slip by a tumbling de Villiers, who clung on as the ball was going past him at the rate of knots (0/1; India 5/1).

The one time vice captain looks increasingly lost and lonely out there; as logical a candidate for a Pathan-style recall as any. The pity of his early dismissal is that this is precisely the sort of conditions that would have suited his style of play right down to the ground, if only he had the cricketing nous to eschew anything flash till he had sussed out the pitch and the bowling, and taken time to settle in.

Dravid's sometimes odd choice of bowler has been commented on; Graeme Smith in his turn went one better, giving the new ball to Makhaya Ntini, ahead of the incisive Shaun Pollock. Ntini in the first Test was considerably below par; Pollock on the contrary was inspirational whenever he got ball in hand.

Wasim Jaffer, for once, shed the hesitant air he has brought to the crease with him in recent outings; after that streaky start, he greeted Ntini with an immaculate straight drive, then flicked Nel off his pads to the midwicket fence. More impressive, though, were the leaves around off - early, assured, and with sufficient feet movement to cover the stumps. Noticeably, the batsman was quick to tuck the bat well out of harm's way as soon as his mind was made up to leave; in earlier outings, there was a hesitant pause on top of the crease, bat hung out, that was primarily responsible for his troubles in that area.

At the other end, the South Africans launched into their pet ploy against Rahul Dravid - swinging wide of the crease, angling the ball in very full and on off, looking to get the batsman nailed in front thanks to his Ponting-like tendency to fall over a bit, early in his innings, while playing in front of his pads.

Morkel, who got to bowl the last over before lunch - again, ahead of Pollock -- looked sharp enough despite an ambling, almost underwhelming run-up, but Jaffar watched him through with a fair degree of comfort, to take India in to lunch on 24/1 after seven overs of play.

Session two, as in the South African innings yesterday, should be perfect for the batting side - hot enough to tire the bowlers out, and a pitch flat enough to take the fear of unknown demons out of the mind. The million dollar ask, though, is whether India can capitalize on those conditions, to bat itself back into pole position.

South Africa innings

Whatever you do out there on the field, someone with access to a laptop can always argue that the reverse should have been done.

Like me, here. It was a bit surprising, frankly, to see Sreesanth get the first over of the morning, against two left-hand batsmen in Ashwell Prince and Morne Morkel.

The seamer did start with a maiden, but then went for nine and 11 in his next two overs, before yielding the ball to Zaheer Khan -- the bowler who, with his natural delivery leaving the bat, should have been up first anyway.

By then, though, the damage was done; Prince had creamed a four off the first ball of Sreesanth's second over, through extra cover, to bring up his century, and get that hurdle out of the way. At the other end, Morkel had dispatched a couple of loose deliveries to the boundary, and was beginning to feel good about himself.

In a sense, it was the Proteas equivalent of the VRV Singh blitz in the first innings at Jo'burg - in terms of runs, seemingly insignificant; in terms of momentum shifts, potentially huge, in that it halted India in its tracks just when the fielding side was looking to finish the South African innings off quick.

Prince, meanwhile, brought up his century off 188 deliveries, with 14 fours, in the manner described above -- and celebrated like a frisky puppy while his dressing room stood to applaud a job grittily done by a batsman derided, not so long ago, as a 'quota' selection.

His wagon wheel is interesting: more than half his runs came square of the wicket, with 22 on the on and 34 on the off; there were also 27 runs off his pads behind the wicket; a scoring arc that cumulatively spoke of a batsman willing to wait, to play the ball as late as he possibly could, and to focus on hitting his target areas when he could, while defending to the rest.

After his dour display of yesterday, Prince unveiled another side of his batting this morning with a series of fluid strokes, especially once he had gone past his century. His wicket, like that of Gibbs yesterday, came against the run of play -- and as fortune would have it, Sreesanth did the damage, with a ball that didn't deserve reward.

Bowling with the second new ball, the right arm seamer sprayed one on the short side, wide and angling away; Prince went after it, driving well away from his body and managing only to get the toe of the bat on it.

VVS Laxman, at second slip, was crouched low for the catch; he had to adjust in an instant and take it high overhead as it came at him at warp speed. Looked simple enough, but the adjustment involved made it one of the better catches Laxman has snared in a series punctuated by some outstanding catching (Prince 121/212 balls; SA 290/8; partnership 39 runs in 58 deliveries).

Morkel was a bit of a revelation; the tall left arm quick looks nicely organized at the batting crease, with neat footwork, a positive stride out to the quicks, a stylishly high right elbow on the drives, and surprisingly soft hands when playing Kumble.

South Africa inched past the 300 mark; Sreesanth's frustrations came to a head when Makhaya Ntini's elaborate leave outside off found the ball touch the bat on the way through only for Asad Rauf, this time, to miss the contact and turn down the appeal for a catch behind.

The umpiring in this game, thus far, has been pathetic -- LBWs are always open to debate, but when one umpire refuses to give as clear an edge as you ever saw (mercifully, Gibbs walked on that one) and the other fails to spot ball thump into bat, you begin to wonder.

Ntini, like earlier beneficiaries of umpiring largesse, took full advantage; holding his end up and occasionally flaying the ball to the fence, he held his end up in a last wicket partnership that added to India's frustrations - and, more vitally, to the scoreboard.

Then again, blaming the umpires alone for the state of affairs would be to take away from India's own pusillanimity - it was strange and, as a ball from Zaheer that took the shoulder of Ntini's bat and raced through the gap indicated, silly to keep just two slips in place for number 11, against a bowler who was still getting the ball to talk.

Kumble finally ended the innings in trademark fashion, with the quick flipper nailing Ntini on the pad in front of the stumps to have SA 328 all out (Ntini 16; Morkel unbeaten on a well compiled 31/52).

South Africa added 71 runs in 18.3 overs this morning -- a late order finish that halted India in its tracks and swung the momentum back in favor of the home team after the mini collapse late on the first evening.

The total confronting them as India begins its first innings is way more than India could have expected, or wanted to chase. Against that, the silver lining is that conditions have never been better for batting, on this tour, than they are here, now.