AB de Villiers set a South African record of 278 as the Proteas took control of the second Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.
The batsman hit 23 fours and six maximums in his 418-ball knock before Graeme Smith declared on 584 for nine, after allowing de Villiers to pass his own previous record of 277 set in England in 2003.
Only time will tell whether Smith’s largesse will backfire on him after the South African attack was only able to prise out opener Mohammad Hafeez after tea, the ‘home’ team closing on 59-1 in reply.
The tourists resumed on 311-4 after de Villiers and Jacques Kallis had scored first day centuries, and the former continued in similar vein on the second morning as he extended his sixth wicket partnership with Mark Boucher to 73.
Debutant seamer Tanvir Ahmed completed a five-wicket haul before lunch, however, when an inswinger upended Boucher’s stumps with the wicketkeeper five runs short of a half-century.
Johan Botha also fell before the break, although he had an early escape when young ‘keeper Adnan Akmal dropped a simple catch, but Botha never looked comfortable and was bowled by Abdur Rehman have made 12.
But de Villiers continued his serene progress, passing 150 before the interval as he looked to guide the tail to a target of 500 and beyond.
He found good support from Dale Steyn, the pair adding 59 for the seventh wicket including a big six off Rehman from the Proteas paceman, before the spinner got his revenge when Steyn miscued going for a repeat having reached 27.
Paul Harris also went for his shots, again hitting Rehman for six, before Tanvir claimed his sixth victim with the score on 477, but still South Africa weren’t done.
De Villiers went to his double century off 369 balls before moving past his previous Test best of 217 not out, while last man Morne Morkel joined in the fun at the other end.
They went in to tea on 568-9 but Smith, rather than declare, was clearly keen for his team-mate to surpass his own record, which he did in the 153rd over in the innings, after putting on a fine 10th wicket stand of 107 with Morkel, who closed on 35 not out.
Steyn then trapped Hafeez in the first over of the Pakistan reply to give South Africa hopes of causing a capitulation, but Azhar Ali hit five boundaries in a stylish 34 not out in a half-century stand with opener Taufeeq Umar (16 not out) to see the hosts safely to stumps.
