South Africa's batsmen banked some valuable time in the middle on day two of their Test warm-up against England Lions, whose captain Gary Ballance was denied the chance to press his own case with the selectors.
After a false start on Thursday, when just 20 overs were possible, the Proteas racked up 382 for six at New Road with both overnight batsmen Heino Kuhn (80) and Hashim Amla (91) retiring out.
Temba Bavuma, who was unbeaten on 85 at the close, and Quinton de Kock (51) also helped themselves to half-centuries as the tourists found their footing ahead of Thursday's Investec Series opener at Lord's.
Ballance would have welcomed the chance to do likewise, particularly with England coach Trevor Bayliss and his fellow selectors thrashing out their own squad just yards away in the pavilion, but he must now hope his 815 championship runs for Yorkshire have done enough to earn him a recall ahead of Dawid Malan on Saturday morning.
Mason Crane, Hampshire's highly-rated leg-spin prospect, endured a difficult day in Worcester, sending down 16 wicketless overs for 89 to prove he has lessons still to learn despite his obvious promise.
Kuhn and Amla progressed serenely after resuming on 58 for one, sharing eight fours in as many overs to set the tone for a day of dominance for bat over ball.
Liam Plunkett, George Garton and Tom Helm shared seam duties, later backed up by Keaton Jennings' medium-pacers, but struggled to make an impression on a docile surface.
Kuhn's half-century occupied 97 balls, Amla following from 103, and their easy progress was only halted when Kuhn retired 20 short of his ton.
The 33-year-old is likely to win his first Test cap next week, after 12 years of first-class cricket, and goes in good nick after hitting all but 16 of his runs in boundaries.
New man JP Duminy quickly hit his stride, clubbing the first of four sixes off Crane's bowling, but fell for 25 to a smart Sam Robson catch, giving left-armer Garton his second success of the match.
Amla had seen enough by lunch, ceasing his chanceless stay despite sitting nine short of his century, forfeiting a likely ton to allow Bavuma a meaningful stay at the crease.
He was allowed to settle thanks to some generous offerings from Crane at the start of the afternoon session and compiled a sturdy looking knock over more than three hours.
Bavuma, who scored a maiden Test hundred against England at Cape Town last year, will be ever more important to South Africa's middle order if captain Faf du Plessis does not make it back in time for the Test, having returned home for what has been described as the 'difficult birth' of his first child.
Theunis de Bruyn did his hopes of standing in little good, pinned lbw for duck by Plunkett, but De Kock's breezy fifty and Chris Morris' 25-run cameo kept the Lions chasing leather until bad light ended matters prematurely.
Source: PA
