Petersen's 109 helps South Africa 'A' pile up 264 for 4 on Day 1

Dharamsala, Sep 19 (UNI) Opener Alviro Petersen cracked a strokeful century (109) and put up a 116-run second wicket stand with Hashim Amla to enable South Africa 'A' score 264 for 4 in 70 overs on the opening day of the second four day match against India 'A' here today.

Winnig the toss, Protea 'A' captain Boeta Dippenaar elected to bat, but were soon given a a jolt by the host as they lost opener M Van Wyk in the second over of the innings. He was trapped leg before by young Delhi seamer Ishant Sharma when the team total was was on 9.

However, the other opener 27-year-old Alviro Petersen found an able partner in one down batsman Hasim Amla as the two batted sensibly and prevented any more quick breakthroughs for the Indians.

It was expected that Suresh Raina will be included in the playing eleven, but once again he was benched -- he did not play in the first match at Delhi also -- though pacer Yo Mahesh of Tamilnadu was included in side.

The start of the match was delayed due to overnight rain which left the field wet.

After surviving the initial jolt the South Africans gave much better batting display as they faced the Indian bowlers with confidence. Today their showing was in sharp contrast to the pathetic display in the first match .

Petersen and Amla looked focused and faced the pace and spin with ease as the two added 116 runs in a space of 30.1 overs to take the score to 125. But suddenly at this stage, Amla seemed to have lost his concentration and was caught by skipper Mohammad Kaif from the bowling of off-spinner Praghyan Ojha.

Amla made 49 with the help of one six and eight boundaries.

Petersen on the other end looked solid and had no problem in facing the Indian bowlers. He got good support from his skipper as the two added 89-runs stand for the third wicket to take the score to 214.

In between Petersen completed his century but when he looked set for big score he gave up his wicket. The opener tried to hit Ojha out of the park, only to miss the ball and see wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel superbly stumping himout. His 109-run innings of 163 balls was studded with two six and 17 boundaries.

The hosts also managed to get rid of Dippenaar in the last session of the day when Amit Mishra caught him in front of the stumps. The South African skipper made 49 with th help of nine boundaries.

At stunps on Day one, Ashwell Prince was batting at 17 (3x4) and J Ontong at 22 (4x4). Both have so far added 33 runs for the fifth wicket in 9.5 overs.

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