Amla half-century drives sluggish South Africa.

Hashim Amla overcame a sluggish start, after Netherlands' discipline earned them two big wickets under the overcast morning skies in Mohali. Amla buckled down after a couple of lucky escapes, bringing up a careful half-century, while AB de Villiers settled down in more fluent fashion to drive South Africa to a reasonable position at the 25-overs mark.

Presented with more helpful conditions than they had encountered in Nagpur and New Delhi, Netherlands' steady army of seamers partly vindicated their captain's choice to field. Barring two short balls in the opening overs - both of which Amla dispatched for boundaries on either side of the wicket - Mudassar Bukhari and Berend Westdijk kept wobbling them off the seam without offering anything to drive.

Graeme Smith scratched around for 32 balls, unsure of his footwork and indecisive in his outlook. Once Bernard Loots and Ryan ten Doeschate came on, Wesley Barresi moved up to the stumps, cramping Smith further by binding him to the crease. By the 13th over, Smith had seen enough, and lost his leg stump while trying to shovel Loots across the line.

ten Doeschate then won the first round in the battle of the prolific allrounders, strangling Jacques Kallis into glancing one down the leg side through to Barresi. With the first two Powerplays gone, South Africa seemed in some strife at 58 for 2. Thankfully for them, their two best batsmen in recent times were on hand to revive the innings.

Amla, restless to put the failure against West Indies behind him, tried to kick off his World Cup career by disregarding the lengths, and punching on the up. He nearly paid the price in Westdijk's third over, when his drive fell just short of the man at short cover. In Bukhari's next, he mishit another forcing shot through the off side, getting an inside edge that was pouched by the wicketkeeper on the bounce. Amla tightened his approach following the two reprieves, resorting to deflections behind square, and compact drives down the ground. His first eight balls yielded three fours, but he got only one more - a fortuitous inside edge to fine leg off Ryan ten Doeschate - en route to a vital half-century.

AB de Villiers had checked in with three immaculate shots through the off side against West Indies, and he repeated the early surge today, flicking and cutting ten Doeschate for a couple of flowing boundaries. With the sun coming out, and the field spreading, de Villiers seamlessly shifted into accumulation mode. His unbeaten 50-run partnership with Amla came in good time despite featuring just those two fours, and holds the key for South Africa going into the second half of their innings.