By David Ornstein

Prince played patiently for his seventh Test ton

Third Test, Durban (day two, stumps): South Africa 556-4d v West Indies 139 & 23-0

Ashwell Prince and AB de Villiers both hit centuries to cement South Africa's overwhelming advantage on day two of the deciding Test against West Indies.

After resuming on 213-1, Hashim Amla and Graeme Smith fell early but that was the extent of the Windies' success.

Jaques Kallis (74), Prince (123 no) and de Villiers (103 no) extended the lead to 417 as the Proteas declared on 556-4 in reply to West Indies' 139 all out.

In their second innings the tourists closed on 23-0, a deficit of 394 runs.

Daren Ganga (6) and Brenton Parchment (17) played with composure to see out the final 11 overs in the face of some hostile bowling.

But with three full days still to play the Windies will need to perform miracles, or hope for rain, if they are to avoid a heavy defeat in the third and final match of the series.

606: DEBATE If this had been a boxing contest the referee would have called a stop to the bout by now and declared the Proteas winner by virtue of a straight knock-out David O, BBC Sport

The hosts picked up where they left off after a ruthlessly dominant day one in Durban.

Mixing boundaries with quick singles, Smith and Amla added 39 runs and appeared to be cruising until Amla, attempting to push Darren Sammy through leg, drove straight to Dwayne Bravo, who held on well at silly mid-off.

Amla's dismissal, ending a 199-run second-wicket stand, came out of the blue but no sooner had he gone than Smith followed, the captain thick-edging Jerome Taylor to Denesh Ramdin at first slip.

West Indies had a spring in their step and Taylor - their only bowler to hit anything resembling a consistent line and length - looked sharp, but Kallis and Prince restored calm before extending South Africa's lead.

Taylor the pick of the West Indies' seamers with 1-92

Not helped by the side strain which looks like preventing stand-in captain Bravo from bowling in the match, Taylor received little back-up from his fellow pacemen and the South Africans were rarely troubled in conditions now perfect for batting.

Kallis reached his near-faultless half-century from just 63 balls with a powerful drive through point, while Prince kept the score ticking over.

Despite the Windies' generally wayward bowling and often slipshod fielding, they stuck to their task admirably and were rewarded when Kallis clipped Marlon Samuels to Runako Morton at slip.

The 32-year-old looked to be coasting towards his 30th Test century but flashed at an off-cutter that was never there to be hit.

Samuels immediately took the new ball but Bravo, whose decision-making in the absence of skipper Chris Gayle has been far from impressive, failed to construct a field conducive to maintaining the pressure and Prince swiftly went on to reach his half-ton.

The Western Province batsman played a tidy rather than spectacular innings - de Villiers the more attacking of the pair - but was seldom troubled en route to securing his seventh Test century.

Prince was stuck in the 90s for 25 minutes as nerves appeared to disrupt his concentration, but he eventually reached the milestone by driving a Samuels delivery wide of a sprawling mid-off.

Eight overs later, de Villiers completed his fine 108-ball ton by cutting Daren Powell between backward point and square cover for four.

Ganga and Parchment now face the daunting prospect of leading the fightback.