South Africa's batsmen lose valuable time

South Africans 108 for 2 trail (Amla 36*, Kallis 23*) trail Kent 210 by 102 runs
Scorecard

The South African batsmen only faced 22 overs on the second day of their tour match against Kent, as wet weather caused an early end to play. Hashim Amla anchored the tourists for the second time on their tour of England - having also done the job in Taunton. Charlie Shreck, Ivan Thomas and Simon Cook kept the batsmen under pressure with discipline and the aid of helpful bowling conditions with cloudy skies and high humidity.

Amla and Alviro Petersen resumed after a 15-minute delay for a wet outfield and Amla was immediately among the runs as he opened the scoring with a crunching drive through the covers off the back foot. It was a false dawn of sorts, because the pair were forced to retreat into defensive mode as the Kent bowlers gave away little.

Matt Coles, who has represented England Lions this season, bowled first change and was the most generous of the seamers. Amla steered his first delivery down to third man for four and cashed in on some of the short deliveries. Simon Cook, who replaced Shreck, was more difficult to negotiate. He found the most movement through the air and caused problems from the outset.

Cook got a ball to move away from Petersen in his first over and the edge fell short of second slip then had an appeal for lbw off the next delivery. However, in his second over he found success when another lbw shout against Petersen was upheld although the batsman appeared to think he was outside the line of offstump. Petersen's dismissal meant that South Africa's openers face entering the first Test without much time in the middle.

Jacques Kallis also had a few nervous moments on arrival when he inside edged Coles for four off the second ball he faced. But he did not long to settle and soon revealed the classic drive before heavy showers brought lunch earlier than scheduled. They continued after the break and with puddles gathering on the edge of the covers play was called off. The third day's action will start at 10:30.