Neil McKenzie had the best view of all of Shaun Pollock's majestic maiden Test century on the opening day of the third and final Castle Lager/MTN Test match against Sri Lanka at SuperSport Park. "It was like a highlights package all by itself," said McKenzie on Saturday night.

Pollock's wonderful 111, scored in his 51st Test match, enabled South Africa to reach 375 for nine at the end of a memorable first day. It was an emotional moment for the South African captain, who has always argued that he needed a century to prove himself a genuine all-rounder, and it came two Test matches after taking his 200th Test wicket.

In other words, it has taken some time for Pollock who has gradually slipped down the order to nine and had to endure the ribbing of his lower-order team-mates, the likes of Nicky Boje, Mark Boucher and Lance Klusener who all Test centuries to their name.

But if it took a long time coming, it was all the more special for it. When Pollock came to the crease after tea following the contentious run out of Justin Kemp, South Africa were 204 for seven and Sanath Jayasuriya's decision to bowl first appeared to have been entirely vindicated.

Pollock, however, had looked in excellent form in a despairing attempt to win the sixth one-day international at the Wanderers and he picked up on Saturday where he had left off on Wednesday.

"I can't really explain it," he said. "I tried a couple of cuts and the ball came off the ball sweetly and went for four. It was just one of those days."

Most certainly it was. As he laid about the attack the Sri Lankan bowlers lost the "in-between" length that had caused so many problems for South Africa's top order and started to dig it in short. And the shorter they bowled, the further Pollock hit them.

Neil McKenzie Photo Rian Botes

He made 45 out of the first 50 in partnership with McKenzie and by the time the latter was out after the pair had put on 150 for the eighth wicket – a South African record – Pollock had made 108 of them.

McKenzie's contribution should not be underestimated. His 103 was his second Test century and without it, South Africa would surely have been dismissed for less than 250. But it is the nature of these things that Pollock's effort captured all the plaudits and, no doubt, all Sunday's headlines.

He was simply terrific, reaching three figures off 95 balls and finally departing after hitting 16 fours and three sixes, almost all of them struck as sweetly as his first couple of cuts.

The Sri Lankans had held sway for the first two sessions, despite the absence of their two senior bowlers, Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan. In Vaas' place was Ruchira Perera, flown in from Kenya on Friday night and thrown into his fourth Test within hours of landing.

For the first few hours, though, Sri Lanka bowled extremely well and even though the scoring rate seldom dipped below four to the over, wickets fell too regularly for the comfort of a 12 000 home crowd.

Boeta Dippenaar (20), Daryll Cullinan (48) and Mark Boucher (38) all looked in excellent touch before getting out as the bounce in the pitch made itself felt. But Pollock ripped the game away from Sri Lanka with the most exciting cricket of the entire summer.

There is still a fair deal of bounce in the pitch as was demonstrated when the second new ball accounted for both McKenzie and Pollock and local opinion has it that the strip will play quicker on days two and three. If the Sri Lankans can bat as half as well as Pollock on a thrilling first day, this could become a spectacular Test match.

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