Unbeaten centuries from Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers halted West Indies’ brief charge and put South Africa in control on the opening day of the first Test at Centurion.
Although the tourists struggled to make early in-roads after winning the toss, a trio of wickets in the space of 15 balls for no runs left the Proteas wobbling on 57 for three in the 16th over.
But their hopes of more breakthroughs were dashed as Amla and de Villiers, with 133 and 141 not out respectively, batted out the rest of the day.
The pair’s unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 283 guided their side to 340 for three at the close.
Openers Alviro Petersen and Dean Elgar has started positively for the hosts, who had reached 57 until Kemar Roach caught the former’s outside edge and Devon Smith held on in the slips.
That triggered a mini collapse that saw South Africa also lose Elgar and Francois du Plessis with the score on 57.
Elgar thrashed Sheldon Cottrell into the hands of Marlon Samuels at gully and du Plessis edged Roach, who later left the field with what appeared like an ankle problem, behind for a first duck in 29 innings.
But just when the Windies had their tails up, Amla – who rode his luck on 25 when the ball ricocheted onto the stumps but failed to dislodge the bails – and de Villiers came to their side’s rescue.
Amla, in his first Test on home soil as captain, and de Villiers, on the 10th anniversary since his format debut, amassed 123 runs between lunch and tea.
De Villiers moved to his 20th Test ton from 138 balls while Amla required 23 deliveries more to reach his milestone.
Both batsmen found the boundary on 17 occasions, de Villiers’ including two maximums.