Friday at the Kensington Oval was a day of bests, firsts and highests - all of them for South Africa - as the tourists took complete control of the third Test against the West Indies at the Kensington Oval. At stumps on day two, the West Indies were 7-0, after taking the better part of two days to bowl South Africa out for 454.

It was South Africa's highest ever score against the West Indies, surpassing their 406-8 declared in Cape Town in 1998-9.

Pollock - second test ton Photo CricInfo

It could and perhaps should have been so much better for the home side. After reducing the South Africans to 315-8 shortly after lunch, it looked as though captain Carl Hooper's stated objective of bowling them out for 325 was a genuine possibility.

But it was his opposite number Shaun Pollock who turned the game around. The South African captain scored only his second Test century, but his second in four matches, as he and Allan Donald added 132, the third highest in South African history for the ninth wicket.

Pollock (106 not out) reached his century in scintillating fashion, requiring just fourteen balls to move from 75 to three figures, including three successive fours off Mervyn Dillon. The shots underlined his ability to play all around the wicket - the first a cut through point, the second a heave over mid-on and the third a hook to the square-leg fence.

In the history of Test cricket only ten centuries have been scored by a man batting at number nine - Pollock now has two of them, following his 111 against Sri Lanka at Centurion two months ago.

An honourable mention too for Donald, whose 37 was also his highest in Tests and without which his captain would never have reached his century. Incredibly, Pollock had scored just eight when Donald joined him.

Hooper's captaincy had to be seriously questioned for the first time in the series. He opted immediately to give Pollock 'free' singles and attack Donald. Instead, Pollock declined many of them and allowed Donald to play himself in with a couple of deliveries per over.

Hooper's fielders stood too deep and the singles they were supposed to be conceding turned into twos allowing Pollock to gambol back to the strike. Misfields and general scrappiness began to scar the home side's performance as South Africa's remarkable comeback continued.

Having resumed on 244-5, first day centurion Daryll Cullinan and nightwatchman Nicky Boje took the score to 306 before three wickets tumbled quickly for just nine runs either side of lunch.

Cullinan was smartly picked up at ankle-height by Dillon off his own bowling for 134 (272 balls, 15 fours) while Boje smashed the same bowler to extra cover on the stroke of lunch for 34.

Lance Klusener's middle stump was uprooted by a perfect Courtney Walsh yorker for a single but that was the last moment the home side had anything to smile about as Donald and his captain set off on their magical, mystery batting ride.

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