Jacques Kallis hit his 32nd Test century to lead South Africa to 262 for four on the opening day of the first Test against England on Wednesday.
His 112 not out gave the hosts the advantage after they had been sent in to bat and lost two wickets in each of the first two sessions.
South Africa's leading run-scorer batted for 278 minutes and faced 203 balls, stroking 14 fours and an imperious six off spinner Graeme Swann.
Kallis and J P Duminy (38 not out) shared an unbeaten fifth-wicket stand of 103.
Swann bowled unchanged for 24 overs either side of tea, taking two for 61 while seamers Graham Onions and Stuart Broad claimed a wicket apiece.
Broad struck in the second over of the day when wicketkeeper Matt Prior took a diving catch down the leg side to remove captain Graeme Smith for a duck.
ALL AT SEA
Ashwell Prince and Hashim Amla (19) took South Africa to 51 for one before Amla, who had been all at sea against Onions, edged the seamer to Paul Collingwood at second slip.
Swann made his first breakthrough, turning the ball sharply to have opener Prince caught by Collingwood at slip for 45.
Kallis and AB de Villiers then put on 66 for the fourth wicket before the latter went for 32, giving a bat-pad catch to short-leg Alastair Cook off Swann.
England had used up their umpire referrals by the 53rd over, Kallis surviving an lbw appeal and De Villiers getting lucky with a caught-behind shout.
"We messed up our reviews again. We all thought the lbw was out and the caught behind we all knew was out, the bowler, the wicketkeeper and slip," Swann told a news conference.
No edge could be heard on the television replays of the De Villiers review.
Kallis and Duminy took control later in the day and the all-rounder reached his century six overs before the close when he top-edged a hook off Broad and Onions was unable to get under the ball at fine leg.
South Africa opener Prince said they were hoping Kallis and Duminy could add substantially to their partnership on the second day.
"Everyone knows how calm Jacques is and it rubs off on everyone else. We'll have to negotiate the first hour again tomorrow because the ball is quite new, but hopefully they can build the partnership as big as possible," he said.
I think being only four down has tilted things our way."
Earlier, South Africa suffered a big blow when leading fast bowler Dale Steyn pulled out with a hamstring injury and was replaced by the uncapped Friedel de Wet.
England decided to go into the match with only four front-line bowlers.
Scorecard
South Africa (1st innings):
G Smith c Prior b Broad 0
A Prince c Collingwood b Swann 45
H. Amla c Collingwood b Onions 19
J. Kallis not out 112
A. de Villiers c Cook b Swann 32
J-P. Duminy not out 38
Extras: (b-1, lb-10, w-5) 16
Total: (for four wickets; 90 overs) 262
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-51, 3-93, 4-159.
Still to bat: M. Boucher, M. Morkel, P. Harris, F. de Wet, M. Ntini.
Bowling: Anderson 23-6-68-0 (w-1), Broad 20-6-42-1 (w-2), Onions 14-2-53-1 (w-2), Swann 24-5-61-2, Collingwood 7-1-18-0, Trott 2-0-9-0.
England: A. Cook, A. Strauss, J. Trott, K. Pietersen, P. Collingwood, I. Bell, M. Prior, S. Broad, G. Swann, J. Anderson, G. Onions.
