Sri Lanka looked to have taken control of the second test against the Proteas after they reached the close of play on day two on 242 for three, trailing the hosts' first innings score by 116 runs, at St George’s Park in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) on Friday.
All the Sri Lankan batters got starts, with Pathum Nissanka leading the charge with a big half-century, while Angelo Matthews (40no) and Kamindu Mendis (30no) were looking comfortable at stumps, having shared in an unbeaten 43-run fourth-wicket stand into the close.
Nissanka will be disappointed not to have reached three figures, having initially made the Proteas pay after being dropped on 22, eventually going out for 89 off 157 balls (11x4; 1x6).
The visitors began the final session on 103 for one, with Nissanka moving to his half-century and, along with Dinesh Chandimal (44), they confidently took their side to the 150-run mark when the Proteas finally managed to make the breakthrough.
Dane Paterson, who had been miserly in conceding very few runs in his opening spell, kept his probing line outside off stump and was rewarded when Chandimal poked at a ball he should have probably left, getting a thick edge to keeper Kyle Verreynne who took a smart catch low to his right.
Nissanka and Matthews then combined for a 49-run third-wicket partnership before the opener premeditated coming down the wicket at spinner Keshav Maharaj, only for him to shorten his delivery, which led to the batter missing the ball and being bowled, as they slipped to 199 for three.
Matthews and Mendis then looked untroubled over the closing overs of the day as they scored at a decent rate and put their side into a great position going into day three.
RABADA IMPACT
Earlier in the post-lunch session, the visitors resumed on 19 without loss, with Dimuth Karunaratne (20) starting well with a few boundaries, before Kagiso Rabada made the breakthrough, with the batter unable to handle a short rising ball, before edging off to Verreynne to leave them on 41 for one.
Rabada should have had his second wicket when Nissanka, on 22, got a thick outside edge to David Bedingham at first slip, but with the ball travelling at a pace Bedingham was unable to hold onto, as the ball popped out of his hands, while he couldn’t take it on a second or third attempt to grab the ball.
That allowed the two batters to take their partnership past 50 and their team passed the 100-run mark, as they reached tea in a strong position
In the morning session, a superb unbeaten century from Verreynne helped boost the Proteas to a good first-innings score of 358 all out.
Verreynne marshalled the tail superbly, finishing unbeaten on 105 off 133 balls, having smoked three sixes and 12 fours, after resuming in the morning on 48.
He shared in a superb 56-run ninth-wicket stand off 76 balls with Rabada (23), and a 33-run last-wicket partnership off just 17 balls with Dane Paterson (9).
“Today was quite pleasing. It was my first test hundred at home, which means a lot. I felt we were in a sticky position this morning where we could have rolled over or got to the score we did in the end, so I was really pleased with that and just happy to contribute,” said Verreynne at the end of the day.
“When KG (Rabada) came in, I thought he was going to be quite keen to have a swing and see how much he could get. But throughout that partnership, he was just telling me to stay calm, that he would stay in with me and kept giving me advice and encouragement which was really nice.”
In the morning, the hosts resumed their first innings, but having not added to their score, Maharaj got caught in two minds in trying to play a ball from Vishwa Fernando and withdrew his bat too late, getting an edge to Karunaratne at first slip to fall for a fourth-ball duck with the score 269 for eight.
That brought in Rabada and, along with Verreynne, they batted carefully, slowly taking the Proteas past the 300-run mark.
Getting to that milestone, however, seemed to spark them into action, as Verreynne crunched three boundaries to the leg side in the 99th over, bowled by Asitha Fernando, while Rabada got in on the action with two fours in the 100th bowled by Lahiru Kumara.
But in the next over, Rabada’s enjoyable cameo came to an end as Asitha got one to nip back off the seam through his defences to bowl him, with the Proteas on 325 for nine.
With him almost out of batting partners, Verreynne continued his attack, coming down the wicket to launch Prabath Jayasuriya for a six over cover.
He then clubbed Asitha over deep midwicket for six, before just getting enough on a pull off the same bowler a few balls later to get the ball over the fielder at deep backward square leg for six to get to his hundred in style.
Paterson then had a little fun, cracking Kumara for back-to-back boundaries before top-edging him to keeper Kusal Mendis to end the innings.
Sri Lankan openers Nissanka and Karunaratne carefully negotiated the six overs to lunch without losing a wicket.
SOUTH AFRICA: Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Temba Bavuma (capt), David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Dane Paterson
SRI LANKA: Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva (capt), Kusal Mendis (wk), Prabath Jayasuriya, Lahiru Kumara, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando