Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince scored centuries and Shaun Pollock added a rearguard 46 before South Africa declared at 451 for nine on Tuesday in the third Test against Australia.
Kallis and Prince shared a 219-run fourth-wicket partnership to lift the tourists from 86-3 to 305-4, before Pollock led the tail-enders in a series of defiant stands.
Rookie Johan Botha was unbeaten on 20 and number 11 Charl Langeveldt was on one when skipper Graeme Smith declared the 11-hour innings closed, giving Australia 15 overs to face before stumps on day two.
Kallis was out for 111, his 23rd Test hundred, when he pulled an Andrew Symonds ball to Glenn McGrath at long leg just before lunch.
Prince scored his maiden hundred against Australia, and third overall, before he was adjudged lbw for 119 to a Shane Warne ball that pitched in the rough well outside off stump and turned sharply into his pads.
He faced 271 balls and stroked 13 boundaries in his six-and-a-half-hour innings, and his borderline dismissal made the total 344-5.
South Africa was unlucky to lose Mark Boucher (5) 11 runs later.
Boucher under-edged an attempted sweep shot to Stuart MacGill that appeared to hit the ground before it rolled off his pad and ballooned up to give rival wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist a diving, mid-pitch catch.
Pollock survived strong appeals for caught behind and lbw in Warne’s next over and scored 46 from 64 balls before he was miscued by Brett Lee to Brad Hodge at mid-on.
The South Africans resumed on Tuesday at 230-3, with Kallis on 80 and Prince on 62.
Chasing a series-levelling win at the Sydney Cricket Ground, the tourists added 160 in the first two sessions in ideal batting conditions.
Kallis, co-winner of the 2005 International Cricketer of the Year award, showed few signs of the elbow injury he aggravated late on Monday and that had forced him out of the series-opening match in Perth.
He reached 91 before Lee hit him on the right upper arm with a short ball.
One run and two overs later, Kallis fell to his back evading another short-pitch ball from Lee, who was on report and facing a disciplinary hearing later on Tuesday for showing dissent at an umpire’s decision.
Kallis, in his 96th Test, batted for just more than six hours to score his second century against Australia.
Symonds had 1-69 in 23 overs, while McGrath had 2-65 from 34 overs, including 17 maidens. Lee returned 3-82 and Warne had 2-106.
Lee, who dismissed Smith (39) and opener AB de Villiers (2) in Monday’s opening session, was reported to the match referee following an exchange with umpire Aleem Dar after his appeal for lbw against Kallis was rejected in the 27th over. — Sapa-AP