South Africa advanced determinedly towards a 3-0 whitewash of Sri Lanka after enforcing the follow-on in Johannesburg. Having taken just 17 overs to polish off Sri Lanka's first innings, Kagiso Rabada then plucked out Kaushal Silva with his first delivery with the new ball as Sri Lanka went to lunch on 13 for 1 and staring at the prospect of a three-day defeat.
The six wickets South Africa required to make Sri Lanka bat again were shared between their four quicks, which included Duanne Olivier's maiden successes in Test cricket. That gave them a lead of 295, enough for Faf du Plessis to send the beleaguered tourists back in.
In Cape Town, South Africa chose to bat for a second time on a similarly substantial lead but, on a more venomous Wanderers surface, du Plessis was confident that his attack had enough in the tank. Having lost some 25 overs on the second evening and with the possibility of rain returning at some point, it was a pragmatic call.
Sri Lanka's innings featured only two partnerships of 20 or more and only two batsman making as many individually. Upul Tharanga landed a few blows in his 24 but South Africa soaked them up without too much discomfort before Olivier and Wayne Parnell docked the tail with three wickets in ten balls.
Without the weather to delay them, South Africa were quickly back into their work. In his second over of the morning, Vernon Philander moved the ball seductively away from Dinesh Chandimal to graze the outside edge and provide a catch for Quinton de Kock.
Angelo Mathews fell to the same manner of dismissal - at least as far as the scorecard was concerned. Mathews had already successfully reviewed Bruce Oxenford's lbw decision off Philander, saved by a thin inside edge with height also in question, when he fended at a rapid delivery from Rabada that held its line outside off. The edge may have been travelling straight to Hashim Amla at first slip but de Kock got their first, intercepting one-handed at full stretch, a magnificent catch even if it didn't quite stick cleanly in the glove at the first attempt.
Sri Lanka had raised three figures by that point but would not get much further. Olivier claimed his first Test wicket with a venomous bouncer that Rangana Herath could only dolly to square leg via an awkward contortion and a brief flurry from Tharanga and Suranga Lakmal could not delay the inevitable.
Lakmal struck one assertive pull for four before chipping Parnell lackadaisically to extra cover and Olivier then achieved some extra bounce from a length to take the shoulder of the bat and extract Tharanga. Nuwan Pradeep was the last to fall, popping a catch back to the bowler; Parnell adjudged to have taken the ball just above the turf after several replays for the third umpire.
(ESPN)
