Proteas on verge of a series victory

Cape Town: Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada grabbed two wickets apiece on Wednesday to set South Africa on the road to victory over Sri Lanka in the second test at Newlands. After South Africa set Sri Lanka a mammoth 507 to win, Philander took 2-34 and Rabada claimed 2-22 before Sri Lanka reached stumps on the third day on 130-4. While Philander bowled Dimuth Karunaratne and then dismissed Kusal Mendis, Rabada had Kaushal Silva (29) caught at short leg and then trapped Dhananjaya de Silva (22) lbw to reduce Sri Lanka to 69-4. Faced with the prospect of a three-day defeat, captain Angelo Mathews and vicecaptain Dinesh Chandimal dug in for the final hour as Sri Lanka lived to fight another day. South Africa (1st innings) 392 Sri Lanka (1st innings) 110 South Africa (2nd innings): SC Cook c Karunaratne b Lakmal 30, D Elgar c Mathews b Herath 55, HM Amla c Chandimal b Lakmal 0, JP Duminy lbw b Lakmal 30, F du Plessis c Chandimal b Lakmal 41, T. Bavuma (run out) 0, Q de Kock c Chandimal b Kumara 29, KA Maharaj (not out) 20, VD Philander (not out) 15. Extras (w 1, nb 3) 4. Total (for seven wickets decl; in 51.5 overs) 224. FoW: 1-64, 2-64, 3-110, 4136, 5-137, 6-170, 7-192. Bowling: Lakmal 19.5-2-694, Pradeep 11-0-46-0, Kumara 12-0-62-1, de Silva 3-0-15-0, Herath 6-0-32-1. Sri Lanka (2nd innings): F. Karunaratne b Philander 6, K. Silva c Cook b Rabada 29, K. Mendis c Elgar b Philander 4, D. de Silva lbw b Rabada 22, A. Mathews (batting) 29, D. Chandimal (batting) 28. Extras (b 6, lb 5, nb 1) 12. Total (for four wickets in 40 overs) 130. FoW: 1-11, 2-25, 3-66, 4-69. Bowling: Abbott 10-3-23-0, Philander 10-1-34-2, Rabada 10-3-22-2, Maharaj 10-2-40-0.