Cape Town - Proteas vice-captain AB de Villiers feels the odds are slightly tilted in the Proteas’ favour, after the first day of the second Investec Test match against England at Headingley Carnegie.

The Proteas finished on 262 for five at stumps, with centurion Alviro Petersen unbeaten on 124 and Jacques Rudolph on a single.

“We played really well, the guys assessed the conditions very well early on in the first 30 overs,” said De Villiers, who scored 47 before playing onto his wickets.

“I think the wicket got a bit quicker towards the end, which made it tough for the batsmen. Alviro handled it very well and paced his innings well; we played around him nicely.”

A determined Petersen dispelled any doubt about his place in the line-up, as he patiently racked up his fourth career century.

He went past 1000 runs for South Africa en-route to his third century of the year, which has lifted his average to a healthy figure of above 58 for 2012.

His other centuries have all come against different opponents; 100 on debut against India in 2010, 109 against Sri Lanka at Newlands in January and 156 against New Zealand in Wellington in March.

Petersen and De Villiers steadied the innings with a 97-run fourth-wicket partnership after the wickets of Graeme Smith (52), Hashim Amla (9) and Jacques Kallis (19) in the afternoon session.

He and Smith had earlier recorded their third century opening partnership, after being sent in to bat by Andrew Strauss.