Loots Bosman hit a solid 53 on a pitch of uneven bounce as South Africa recovered from early blows to reach 199 in a World Cup warm-up match against Pakistan here on Friday.
The game was held up for nearly 10 minutes in the morning session after players complained of the pitch, which had a variable bounce. South Africa were 56-3 at that stage after being put in to bat.
Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer and South Africa captain Graeme Smith also entered the ground and were involved in mid-pitch discussions with umpires Peter Parker and Ian Gould.
"The batsmen were not happy with the way the ball was bouncing, but the umpires asked them to continue," said Dhiraj Malhotra, an International Cricket Council official at the venue. The real test of the track will come when South Africa bowl with the hard ball.
The incident came just a few days after a sightscreen had collapsed during the Pakistan-Canada practice game at the same venue, halting play for more than an hour.
South Africa's total owed much of its substance to Bosman, who defied the Pakistani bowlers with a sensible 57-ball knock which included one six and four boundaries. South Africa's hopes of gaining valuable batting practice ahead of the World Cup suffered a setback when they lost openers Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers with just five runs on the board.
They were reeling at 27-3 when Herschelle Gibbs departed after making 11, but Jacques Kallis (29) and Ashwell Prince (35) steadied the innings with a 66-run stand for the fourth wicket. Seamers Mohammad Sami and Umar Gul, and off-spinners Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik grabbed two wickets apiece. South Africa desperately needed practice against a big side as their batting left a lot to be desired in their opening warm-up game against debutants Ireland. They were tottering at 91-8 before all-rounder Andrew Hall slammed a half-century to steer them to 192 which turned out to be a match-winning total against the Irish side.
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