The Proteas got just the workout they wanted on the opening day of the two-day practice match against the BCCI President's XI at Nagpur on Tuesday.

A blunt look at the scorecard would suggest the Proteas let the home side off the hook after having them 114/6 shortly after lunch and then letting them finish with a much more imposing 318 all out in 74.4 overs.

No doubt Graeme Smith could have forced the issue but he wanted to give as much middle time as possible to all his bowlers.

In the end he used no fewer than 10 bowlers including himself. His impressive seam attack called the tune for the first three hours but the spinners were unable to achieve similar success.

They ran into impressive resistance from Abishek Nayar, who hit 100 off 140 balls with 16 fours, being the last man out.

The left-hander shared a partnership of 181 for the seventh wicket with Shikhar Dhawan and at one stage looked as though he might get stranded on 99 as he lost a succession of lower order partners.

The Proteas' bowling performance was much as might be expected for a first outing with a mixture of some outstanding deliveries and some ordinary ones.

Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel certainly looked the part in lively new ball spells but the biggest beneficiary was probably Wayne Parnell who has never played in India before.

It was a useful experience for the 20-year-old and, although he was expensive at times, he did finish with three wickets as did Morkel.

The Proteas finished the day on 44/0 with Graeme Smith and Ashwell Prince laying the foundation for what hopefully will be a major partnership on day two.