Opener Wavell Hinds and Shivnarine Chanderpaul struck centuries and shared in a record partnership to put West Indies in control on the first day of the first Test against South Africa on Thursday.
The pair put on 241 for the unbroken fourth wicket, a record against South Africa, as the home side reached 347 for three when bad light halted play 9.5 overs early.
Hinds, who survived a difficult chance on 13 when dropped by Herschelle Gibbs in the gully off fast bowler Charl Langeveldt, ended the day unbeaten on a career-best 188, his fifth Test century.
He had hit 30 fours and two sixes in 230 balls.
Chanderpaul, captaining the side for the first time in the absence of Brian Lara, finished on 102 not out, his 12th century, having struck 15 fours.
Together, they surpassed the previous West Indies record for the fourth wicket against South Africa, 174 between Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle at Centurion in 2003-04.
Fast bowler Andre Nel, who finished with figures of three for 50, struck twice in the space of six balls in the sixth over of the match to reduce the West Indies to 24 for two.
The left-handed Devon Smith edged the first ball of the over wide of wicketkeeper Mark Boucher, who dived smartly to his left to dismiss the batsman for 11.
REGULATION CATCH
Five balls later, Nel dismissed Daren Ganga in similar fashion as Boucher held on to a regulation catch.
Hinds batted aggressively despite his team's situation and in debutant Donovan Pagon he found a solid partner.
They put on 82 for the third wicket before Pagon's uppish drive off Nel, in the fourth over after lunch, was caught by Jacques Kallis at short cover.
Pagon's 35 included seven boundaries.
Nel took two for 20 in his opening spell of six overs, but the rest of the South African attack struggled to penetrate on a benign, grassless pitch.
Rain interrupted play for 35 minutes after lunch, and even the additional moisture failed to add life to the surface.
Hinds went to his century with a lofted drive for four off Smith that just cleared Andrew Hall at mid-on.
Chanderpaul reached three figures with a late cut off Langeveldt for four off the last ball of the day.
South Africa squandered a sharp chance to dismiss Chanderpaul for 60 when the West Indies captain edged a hook off Nel to Boucher, who parried the ball but failed to catch it.
Scorecard
West Indies 1st innings
W. Hinds not out 188
D. Smith c Boucher b Nel 11
D. Ganga c Boucher b Nel 0
D. Pagon c Kallis b Nel 35
S. Chanderpaul not out 102
Extras (lb-5 nb-4 w-2) 11
Total (for 3 wickets, 80.5 overs) 347
Fall of wickets: 1-24 2-24 3-106
Did not bat: R. Hinds, N. Deonarine, C. Brow ne, R. Powell, P. Collins, R. King
Bowling: Ntini 15 - 2 - 71 - 0 (nb-2) Nel 18 - 6 - 50 - 3 (nb-1) Langeveldt 16.5 - 3 - 49 - 0 (nb-1 w-1) Hall 8 - 3 - 27 - 0 Kallis 8 - 0 - 66 - 0 (w-1) Boje 7 - 0 - 39 - 0 Smith 8 - 0 - 40 - 0
More from rediff