'I wanted to end myself at lunchtime' - Nel

Andre Nel felt hopeless and desperate at lunch after dropping a simple catch from Ricky Ponting, but he was glowing at stumps with 4 for 58 as South Africa grabbed control on the opening day. While Ricky Ponting's square-leg reprieve on 17 cost exactly 100 runs, the damage was stopped by Nel in a turnaround that dropped seven Australia wickets for 85.

"I wanted to end myself at lunchtime but we came back nicely," Nel said. "It was costly but I found the best way to get back."

Australian crowds have grown an immediate disliking for Nel and have booed him whenever he has thrown the ball at the stumps or stopped to stare or speak at the batsmen. There have been regular opportunities to make noise but instead of distracting Nel the attention as the pantomime villain drives him towards his best performances.

"It's my character that when people abuse me and put me down I like to prove them wrong," he said. "If the crowd starts I get fired up. I expect it."

Nel was jeered shortly before dismissing Ponting and he was on a hat-trick after delivering a beautiful leg-cutter to Andrew Symonds, who could offer only an edge to Mark Boucher. Herschelle Gibbs then took his second catch as Adam Gilchrist followed Ponting in misjudging the bounce of the slow wicket and Nel wrapped up his haul with the wicket of Shane Warne to complete his part in the massive momentum shift.

"We have been bowling as a unit well and the team fought back well," he said. "Polly [Shaun Pollock] has been telling us that if we put in the work for certain periods things have to go your way," he said. "Australia like to score quickly so if we put it in good areas and stay patient it will work well."

Despite the swift change in fortune Ponting refused to be concerned and was comfortable with the stumps position of 8 for 239. "It's not a bad day for us," he said. "The wicket was difficult and the outfield was not that fast. It was up to our batters to dig in and make sure of a big total but it's not the end of the world. It's a pretty good total."

Play was held up for half an hour in the morning because of the state of the pitch, which had been watered last night, and the damp surface worried Ponting, but it did not stop him from selecting Stuart MacGill instead of Nathan Bracken and batting when he won the toss. The bowler-friendly conditions increased the value of his 26th century, which included 13 fours and placed him alongside Garry Sobers on the list of most Test hundreds.

"It was a special innings and I'm pretty proud of the way I played today," he said. "I got a bit of luck but it was difficult. I'd chosen to bat and it was very satisfying staying out there for that long in those conditions and post a hundred in front of a huge crowd."