Star Sport Monitor

Captain Graeme Smith and Gary Kirsten completed individual milestones to consolidate South Africa's position shortly after tea against England in the Lord's Test yesterday.

The left-handed pair continued their run-feast by adding 257 runs for their record second-wicket to take the score onto 390-2. At that stage the South Africans led by 217 runs.

Kirsten was finally out for 108 after dragging the ball on the stumps off Anthony McGrath.

It was his 17th career Test ton but the first time he had done so at the home of cricket.

Smith, on the other hand, reached his third double hundred in only his 12th Test. He was batting on 206.

Graeme Smith continued his extraordinary one-man show against England on Friday, eyeing another double century as South Africa cruised into a 164-run first-innings lead on the second day of the second Test.

In reply to England's paltry 173, Smith's South Africans reached an early tea on 337 for one, with their 22-year-old captain on 178 not out as light drizzle interrupted play at Lord's.

He and Gary Kirsten (84 not out) had put on 204 for the second wicket.

The left-handed Smith, who made a national record 277 and 85 in the drawn first Test, has now scored 540 runs in the five-match series.

If he was impregnable -- there was a huge cheer when he missed a ball just before tea -- the English bowling was a woeful mix of leg-stump half-volleys and wide long hops.

Smith, with a wide bat and relentless determination, stuck to a carefully thought-out repertoire of leg-side shots punctuated by occasional cuts.

In contrast, England strike bowlers James Anderson and Steve Harmison, so impressive in bursts in their short careers, simply could not put the ball on a length.

South Africa had resumed on 151 for one but were soon sprinting along after a 75-minute delay for rain and bad light.

Smith saw no need to delay in rejecting England's early generosity.

He clipped Anderson's second ball off the leg stump for four to the vacant fine-leg boundary. Next over, Harmison offered him a short, wide ball first up which Smith cut for another boundary.

The 21-year-old Anderson, clearly frustrated with his own lack of direction, fielded off his own bowling and shied at the stumps, almost hitting Kirsten and prompting an angry reaction from Smith.

Smith, on 98, almost offered a catch to short mid-wicket before reaching his fourth Test century from another gift, turning away a leg-stump half-volley from Anderson for his 16th boundary.

He was only the fourth South African captain to score a century at Lord's. He had also become the quickest South African to reach 1,000 Test runs, right at the start of his 17th innings.

Later in the afternoon, hungry for more landmarks, he boasted the highest score by a South African at the venue.

The little drama on offer during the afternoon came from fellow left-hander Kirsten.

On 54 and with the score on 256 for one, he edged Andrew Flintoff to second slip where Mark Butcher juggled and dropped the catch. Moments later, he repeated the shot, but the ball this time fell just short of Butcher.

The first test of the five-match series was drawn, although England only escaped after more than a day's play was lost to rain.