It was a Sunday stroll for batsmen at Kingsmead yesterday and despite classy centuries from Andrew Hudson and Errol Stewart, Natal will find it tough to bowl Eastern Province out today and set up victory in their SuperSport Series Super Eights game.

Natal declared their first innings closed at 462 for five but, with a 196-run lead, they failed to snare any Eastern Province wickets in the 13 overs available to their bowlers before bad light stopped play. Hudson, the most prolific scorer of all current Natal batsmen, remains a class player as he amply demonstrated in the 20th century of his first-class career. He faced just 178 balls in his 225 minutes at the crease, striking 13 fours and two sixes with immaculate placing and timing in his 102.

There was no respite for the Eastern Province bowlers once Hudson had skied promising left-arm spinner Robin Peterson into the covers, though, as Stewart, something of a forgotten player at national level, scored an unbeaten 109 to take his tally from five SuperSport Series matches to 402 runs at an average of 134.

The wicketkeeper/batsman seldom tries anything extravagant at the crease, but he showed a solid technique and his drives were straight and true yesterday as he went to the top of the four-day competition's batting averages.

Jon Kent (32) and Ahmed Amla (27 not out) scored freely towards the end of the innings as Natal piled on the runs and totally shut Eastern Province out of the match and perhaps destroyed their chances of reaching the SuperSport Series final.

Mark Bruyns and Doug Watson had begun the destruction on Saturday afternoon, the ultra-consistent SA A opening pair, both schooled at Maritzburg College, putting on 116. Watson's solid innings of 48 came to an end when he played a poor shot off Peterson and holed out at deep mid-on, but Bruyns carried on to 93.

Small of stature but blessed with fantastic touch, Bruyns was beginning to blossom when his innings was ended by an awesome catch in the gully - Mark Benfield diving full-length to cling on to a square-drive that was speeding to the boundary.

The Eastern Province bowlers toiled hard, with Peterson (two for 99 from 33 overs) and Shafiek Abrahams (one for 73 in 37 overs) maintaining a good line and length in testing circumstances for finger-spinners.

With heavy overnight rain causing wet patches on the outfield on both the second and third days, Natal have lost 56 overs and could well find themselves having to settle for a draw.

They were not able to make any inroads into the Eastern Province second innings, the visitors reaching 50 without loss as the Natal bowlers sprayed their deliveries all over the place.

With the pitch proving a nightmare for bowlers on Sunday - only two wickets fell in 85.3 overs - Natal will be hoping the conditions are more conducive to swing and seam when play gets underway at 9am Monday morning. One senses, however, that the home bowlers will have to fight tooth and nail if they are to bring the Eastern Province batting line-up crashing down.

© CricInfo