Tons For Amla And Prince

Smith in action on Friday.

Hashim Amla and Ashwell Prince each banked hundreds for South Africa, but captain Graeme Smith failed to cash in on day one of their tour match against Middlesex at Uxbridge.

Amla (161) augmented his 172 against Somerset at Taunton with a second consecutive century, and Prince was notably fluent in his 104 not out in a stumps total of 339 for four.

It was Smith who was most in need of runs, or at any rate a substantial stay at the crease; yet, he fell short of both - despite appearing full of determination as he batted through the first session, ultimately to little avail.

Fit again after his Indian Premier League hamstring tear, Smith may not be granted another chance to hit form before next week's first Test against England - given the unpromising nature of this weekend's weather forecast.

After winning the toss and choosing to bat on a sunny day, he spent the majority of it watching Amla and Prince take advantage of the benign conditions against an unremarkable Middlesex attack.

The South Africa captain employed a minimal-risk policy but for his trouble mustered just 35 runs - contributing only 29 to a second-wicket stand of 106 with Amla - before flailing a catch behind from Alan Richardson's loosener straight after lunch, an anti-climactic end to a laboured 77-ball stay.

Number three Amla had begun scratchily - and despite 12 fours in his first half-century, around half of his runs at that stage had come off the edge.

But as batting became more straightforward, he was soon timing the ball convincingly on a pitch of good pace.

On the way to his 119-ball hundred, Amla milked three leg-side sixes in one Mark Lawson over - the Yorkshire leg-spinner on loan after a lack of bowling chances on home turf and understandably struggling for consistency on his Middlesex debut.

Smith had lost his opening partner in the ninth over when Neil McKenzie became little-known seamer David Burton's maiden first-class victim.

Burton, making only his second appearance at this level and his first for Middlesex, had enough pace to have McKenzie caught mis-hooking to long-leg.

The 23-year-old - Camberwell-born, but whose only previous first-class appearance was for Gloucestershire - continued with brawny and well-directed seam in a new-ball spell which had Amla edging just short of the slips for a streaky boundary.

Amla then repeated the dose off Richardson and soon afterwards bottom-edged past leg-stump for four more.

But by lunchtime, he was well in command. Minus Smith to Richardson, in his first match of the summer after an ankle injury, Amla did not have Jacques Kallis' company for long before the new batsman also edged behind off the former Warwickshire pace bowler.

But Prince joined in for a 167-ball hundred in a stand of 190, which lasted until after the second new ball had been taken.

Amla remained full of wristy deflections, which raced across a surprisingly fast outfield - and Prince, albeit stockier and left-handed, batted in similar style for the most part.

When Amla finally went to a tired drive and outside edge to be caught behind off Danny Evans, his consolidation had seen him slacken the pace to the extent that his third 50 was by far his slowest - coming from 95 balls.

The uneven pace was illustrative of a batsman with a major appetite for runs, prepared to go through quiet spells as long as his wicket is intact.

For South Africa, the only regret was that neither Amla nor Prince could donate any of their runs - or the confidence which must come with them - to their captain.