Kyle Verreynne cherishes Test century in front of his family at beloved Newlands

The wicketkeeper-batter, who was born and raised in Cape Town and is captain of Western Province, struck exactly 100 off 147 balls to join Ryan Rickelton (259) and Temba Bavuma (106) as centurions in the first innings as the hosts piled up a total of 615 all out.

The home side then rammed home their advantage by reducing Pakistan to 64-3 at stumps with three days of the Test still remaining.  

READ: Proteas drive home advantage against Pakistan at Newlands as Rickelton doubles up

It was Verreynne's fourth Test hundred - he also has three fifties - in his 24th appearance but the first one at his beloved Newlands where he has grown up and with his mother and brother watching from the stands.

Speaking to reporters after the day's play, the gloveman said: "It's quite special. I started getting a bit emotional around lunchtime when I was on 70-odd.

"You have a feeling things are going well that you might get there. It's the first time my mom's been here to watch me get a Test hundred. I started feeling a bit emotional.

"It's probably why I got out after I got a hundred because I was so emotionally drained, but it's incredibly special.

"It's probably not one of the more important ones that I've scored from a team perspective because we were scoring so many runs already anyway, but from a personal point of view, just having my mom and brother here was really special for me."

Verreynne shared in a 148-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Rickelton, who became the first Proteas batter to score a double-century in nine years since Hashim Amla's 201 against England in 2016 also at Newlands.

The left-hander, who carried his bat on the first day to be unbeaten on 176, spent 10 hours and 15 minutes at the crease to strike the highest individual score by a Proteas player at the picturesque venue, beating Herschelle Gibbs' 228.

"It was really nice batting with him out there," Verreynne said about his stand with Rickelton. "I thought he would be so tired because he batted the whole of yesterday and quite a lot of today.

"But when I walked out to bat with him he was just so calm it just felt like he could do this for ages and that put me at ease.

"I wasn't too sure how to go about it, if I needed to be a bit more aggressive or bat normally, but the calmness that he brought to the partnership was really good."