Mark Boucher hit a valuable 72 to lift South Africa to 320 all out on the first day of the first Test against Pakistan on Friday.

Pakistan had no chance to start their innings after bad light forced stumps to be drawn five overs early.

The day's proceedings were watched by a near empty stadium with a complete absence of the noise and din that accompanied the earlier one-day matches.

Boucher batted for 117 minutes and faced 96 balls in making his 16th Test half century. He shored up the innings with two valuable partnerships after Gary Kirsten had retired hurt shortly after lunch on 53.

Kirsten, who had just completed his 32nd half century, took a nasty blow on his left cheekbone as he tried to pull fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar.

Bleeding profusely from a deep cut under the left eye, he went off to hospital where he had 10 stitches.

Kirsten's injury turned the tide towards Pakistan with off-spinning all-rounder Shoaib Malik finishing with career-best figures of four for 42 from 17 overs in his fourth Test.

Boucher shared partnerships of 70 with Boeta Dippenaar (24) and 53 with Shaun Pollock (28). He hit 11 fours in his enterprising innings which ended when he also fell victim to Malik, caught at leg slip with the score on 282.

Dippenaar was fifth man out when he was given caught at leg slip off Malik in what looked a debatable decision.

Electing to bat first, South Africa suffered some anxious moments before lunch as Pakistan dropped easy chances and Jacques Kallis survived a confident inside edge catch.

But openers Graeme Smith (33) and Herschelle Gibbs (27) both went before the interval, parted after putting on 52.

MAJOR BLOW

South Africa coach Eric Simons said of Kirsten's injury: "It was a major blow to us as he was playing the spinners the best and positively. His retirement broke our momentum."

He added: "I would say 320 is a competitive total but it is not what we would have liked. We were looking at 400-plus at one stage, but then lost wickets quickly."

Simons said: "With the ball turning and with the close-in fielders, the pressure was on the batsmen and they tried to play positively because if you allow wrist-spinners to settle down it gets difficult to survive."

Pakistan opted to field three spinners. South Africa discussed playing both their left-armers, Paul Adams and Robin Peterson, but settled for Adams.

"I think we have an attack which has won us matches and is still capable of bowling out the opposition on this wicket," said Simons.

Malik said: "Our coach Javed Miandad had told me to cut down my run-up to get more spin. I did that today and it worked."

The Test is the first of a two-match series. South Africa won the recent one-dayers 3-2.

Scoreboard

South Africa (1st innings):

G.Smith c Asim Kamal b Mohammad Sami 33
H.Gibbs c Taufeeq Umar b Danish Kaneria 27
G.Kirsten retired hurt 53
J.Kallis c Moin Khan b Danish Kaneria 29
B.Dippenaar c Imran Farhat b Shoaib Malik 24
N.McKenzie lbw Shoaib Akhtar 0
M.Boucher c Imran Farhat b Shoaib Malik 72
S.Pollock b Shoaib Malik 28
P.Adams not out 18
A.Nel lbw Shoaib Akhtar 0
M.Ntini c Asim Kamal b Shoaib Malik 8

Extras (lb-5, nb-23) 28.

Total (for all out, 83 overs) 320

Fall of wickets: 1-52, 2-84, 3-154, 4-159, 5-229, 6-282, 7-302, 8-307, 9-320.

Bowling: Shoaib Akhtar 14-1-62-2 (nb-8), Mohammad Sami 13-2-66-1 (nb-11), Mushtaq Ahmed 18-1-80-0, Danish Kaneria 21-2-65-2 (nb-2), Shoaib Malik 17-4-42-4 (nb-2)

Pakistan: Taufeeq Umar, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Yousuf Youhana (Capt), Asim Kamal, Shoaib Malik, Moin Khan, Mohammad Sami, Shoaib Akhtar, Mushtaq Ahmed, Danish Kaneria.