Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers piled on the agony for the West Indies as both openers completed hundreds that helped South Africa reach 214-0 on a rain-affected opening day of the fourth and final Test on Friday.
Smith was undefeated on 106 and de Villiers was unbeaten on 103, as South Africa, choosing to bat, dominated the first day before rain and bad light stopped play early.
Smith reached his 11th Test hundred and third of the series, when he drove a delivery from Chris Gayle straight for the 16th of 17 boundaries in an innings that has spanned 3-1/2 hours and 151 balls.
De Villiers reached his third Test hundred and second of the series, when he glanced a ball from Gayle to deep fine leg for two in a knock that has occupied 145 balls.
He has struck 12 fours and one six.
The two South African opening batsmen kept their composure through three stoppages for rain that amounted to 2-1/2 hours of time lost.
In between the showers, the two South African opening batsmen made hay while the sun shone as the tourists, with the series already wrapped up, went hunting a third successive win.
They jammed their feet down hard on the accelerator to eclipse the 191-run stand they shared in the previous Test at Bridgetown.
Smith and de Villiers blessed South Africa with a flying start, after the visitors chose to bat on the hard and notoriously docile Antigua Recreation Ground pitch, but had to battle through the rain breaks.
Rain had taken the players off the field 15 minutes prior to lunch, and after the interval, they were sent scampering after just a couple minutes. They returned to the field about 10 minutes later and got through a few more balls before the heaviest of the three showers of the day soaked the ARG.
The West Indies came close several times during the day, but could not find that extra sparkle to transform the complexion of the game.
Twice they came close to running Smith out.
In the second over of the match, the South Africa captain was on one and looking for a single off Tino Best, but he was left stranded in mid-pitch when de Villiers sent him back, and Wavell Hinds failed to hit the stumps with an under-arm throw from cover-point.
After lunch, West Indies had another chance to make the breakthrough.
Backing up too far, Smith, who is carrying a slight hamstring strain, was fortunate that bowler Narsingh Deonarine could not gather Brian Lara’s return from backward square leg.
Apart from the two run out chances in the morning, Smith also came close to giving his wicket away twice to catches to the gully, when he cut balls close to the fielders, and on 92, he inside-edged a ball from Test newcomer Dwight Washington dangerously close to his leg stump.
At the other end, de Villiers was much, much more solid and did not offer a semblance of a chance until he was 83, when Daren Powell squared him up and the ball popped up into the air off the leading edge, but agonisingly fell a few yards short of Dwayne Bravo at cover-point.
All-rounder Shaun Pollock, who is the leading South African bowler in Tests with 377 wickets in 93 matches, was named in the team for the first time since March after suffering an ankle injury.
He replaced fellow fast bowler Andre Nel, who flared up an old lower back injury during practice on Thursday.
There were three changes to the West Indies side with Deonarine, debutant Washington, and Best coming in for Ryan Hinds, Reon King, and Fidel Edwards.
South Africa lead the four-Test series 2-0, after winning the second Test at Port of Spain by eight wickets, and the third Test at Bridgetown by an innings and 86 runs.
The first Test at Georgetown ended in a draw. – Sapa-AFP