South African spinner Nicky Boje bagged a five-wicket haul as Sri Lanka were made to struggle in their second innings on the fourth day of the first Test here on Saturday.
The left-armer took 5-88 as the home side declared at 214-9 after taking a 110-run first innings to set a challenging 325-run target in a minimum of 93 overs at the Galle International Stadium.
South Africa were seven without loss off three overs in their second innings with captain Graeme Smith on five and Boeta Dippenaar yet to get off the mark. They need to get another 318 runs on the last day for victory.
Boje bowled a fine line for his third five-for in Tests, which included the prize scalps of in-form batsmen Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara early in the innings.
Romesh Kaluwitharana, Upul Chandana and Muttiah Muralitha-ran were his other victims.
"The ball was turning a bit and as the batsmen were trying to score runs off me, it was easy to get those wickets," said Boje. "They could not score as freely as they would have liked to."
Sanath Jayasuriya was the only batsman to apply himself well, compiling 74 off 139 balls with six boundaries for his 29th half-century, but failed to dominate as wickets fell at regular intervals.
Boje struck twice in the second session to peg Sri Lanka back after a steady opening stand between Jayasuriya and captain Marvan Atapattu.
Sangakkara was caught to a fine catch by Mornantau Hayward who fell running backwards at mid-off, while Jayawardene was caught by Jacques Rudolph at deep mid-off.
Atapattu (25), who was shaping well in an opening partnership of 62, was the first to go as he was trapped lbw by a delivery that kept low from medium-pacer Lance Klusener, who took two wickets.
Pacer Shaun Pollock came up with a twin-strike in the last session when he removed Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan in the space of three deliveries.
Jayasuriya was caught behind on the fifth delivery of a Pollock over and Dilshan was removed with the first ball of his next over, trapped lbw.
"We are taking things positively
and don't have the mindset of saving the match. If one of our batsmen gets a big knock and some others rally around him, we can win," said Boje.
"Much will depend on the first session tomorrow and we will take things as they come," said the 31-year-old.
Earlier, Rudolph completed a well-deserved century as South Africa were all out for 376 after resuming at 347-7.
Rudolph, 85 overnight, got to his fourth century in 15 Tests with an inside-edge for two to fine-leg after being restricted to singles for a major part of Saturday morning.
Rudolph's knock of 102 lasted 413 minutes in which he faced 297 deliv-
eries and hit 12 boundaries, none of them Saturday morning.
The left-hander was caught by wicketkeeper Kaluwitharana off spinner Muralitharan.
Kaluwitharana had taken a fine catch earlier in the day when he cupped a low one-handed catch to his right to see the back of left-hander Boje (31) off seamer Chaminda Vaas.
Ntini (10) was caught at deep midwicket by Chandana off Muralitharan, who finished with 4-130.
SCOREBOARD
Scoreboard at close on the fourth day of the first Test between Sri Lanka and South Africa at the Galle International Stadium on Saturday:
SRI LANKA: First innings 486 (Jayawardene 237, Vaas 69, Sangakkara 58, Kaluwitharana 33; Pollock 4-48, Hayward 3-81)
SOUTH AFRICA: First innings (overnight 347-7)
Dippenaar run out 46
Van Jaarsveld c S'weera b M'tharan 37
Rudolph c K'tharana b M'tharan 102
Kallis c S'kara b M'tharan 59
Smith lbw b Jayasuriya 23
Boucher c K'tharana b Jayasuriya 6
Pollock c S'kara b Vaas 25
Klusener c J'wardene b Dilshan 2
Boje c K'tharana b Vaas 31
Ntini c Chandana b M'tharan 10
Hayward not out 2
Extras: (b-14, lb-8, nb-10, w-1) 33
Total: (All out in 139.4 overs) 376
Fall of wickets: 1-84, 2-96, 3-168, 4-213 5-225, 6-287, 7-295, 8-348, 9-363
Bowler O M R W
Vaas 25 10 50 2
Maharoof 19 9 42 0
M'tharan 46.4 9 130 4
Chandana 18 0 68 0
Jayasuriya 25 9 40 2
Dilshan 6 0 24 1
SRI LANKA: Second innings
Atapattu lbw b Klusener 25
Jayasuriya c Boucher b Pollock 74
Sangakkara c Hayward b Boje 13
Jayawardene c Rudolph b Boje 5
Samaraweera b Klusener 19
Dilshan lbw b Pollock 1
Kaluwitharana c Pollock b Boje 19
Chandana c Dippenaar b Boje 29
Vaas not out 13
Muralitharan c Dippenaar b Boje 2
Maharoof not out 3
Extras: (b-4, lb-1, nb-4, w-2) 11
Total: (For 9 wkts decl in 67 overs) 214 Fall of wickets: 1-62, 2-89, 3-103, 4-140, 5-142, 6-166, 7-172, 8-199, 9-209
Bowler O M R W
Pollock 12 2 19 2
Hayward 6 1 21 0
Klusener 14 2 40 2
Ntini 5 0 19 0
Boje 22 0 88 5
Kallis 8 1 22 0
SOUTH AFRICA: Second innings
Smith not out 5
Dippenaar not out 0
Extras: (b-1, lb-1) 2
Total: (For no loss in 3 overs) 7
Bowler O M R W
Vaas 1 0 3 0
Jayasuriya 1 0 1 0
Dilshan 1 0 1 0