'You have to give credit to India' - Prince

Having finished the opening day on 98 not out, Ashwell Prince was up bright and early on Wednesday morning, and he said that the Ashes tussle at the MCG had played its part in inspiring a spirited South African tail-wag on day two. Having suffered in the heat on Tuesday afternoon, prompting the decision to go off for bad light, Prince carried on to 121, as South Africa went from 257 for 8 to a much healthier 328 all out.

"I was up early this morning, watching the Ashes and seeing two batsmen make centuries," he said. "I was hoping that I would get my hundred too. I went to the beach for a swim and a stretch, and felt good coming out to bat. It was a big decision for me to take the light offer last evening. I could have stayed on and got my two runs, but I was not physically in a position to give my best for the team because I was cramping up. I wanted to come back fresh and try and help us get to 300, which was the target."

He refused to be too harsh on his top-order team-mates, few of whom have been able to make any sort of impression on the scoreboard during this series. "You have to give credit to India, they have been bowling very well," he said. "Especially Sreesanth, who has been getting swing away from the right-handers and bounce too. Zaheer [Khan] too has been bowling very well. Our batsmen haven't got out to irresponsible strokes. Their bowlers have been putting us under pressure."

On Wednesday, South Africa applied some pressure of their own, but a good afternoon's work with the ball was ruined by Graeme Smith dropping a simple chance from Sachin Tendulkar at first slip. Prince, who enjoyed a reprieve from Tendulkar when he had made just 41, was philosophical about the whole thing. "Sachin is a great batsman, but these things happen," he said. "We just need to keep our heads up and take the next one."

With Jacques Kallis having missed a few games, Prince has been South Africa's premier Test batsman this year, and he attributed that largely to the self-belief gained from his 119 made against the very best. "I started off the year very well with that hundred at the SCG, and it gave me a lot of confidence to have made runs against a quality bowling attack," he said. "I started to believe then that I could play well at this level."

Having made his Test debut in 2002, he then spent two-and-a-half years on the outer before earning a recall. Along with the breakthrough knock against Australia, Prince reckoned that it was the making of him. "I have played some ten years of first-class cricket, and one of the things I have learnt is that I needed to improve the conversion-rate," he said, when asked about his Test tally of five centuries and four 50s. "I needed to up my game to make big contributions for the team."

Both at the Wanderers and in Durban, those contributions have been immense, in a line-up that has been anything but.