There was admirable resistance from the Sri Lankan tail, but in the end the South African seam attack was too strong for the visitors as they were dismissed for 191 in their first innings on day two of the first Test at Kingsmead.

Dale Steyn, desperate for his first five-wicket haul since 2016, was the chief destroyer for the hosts as he finished with figures of 4/48 from 20 overs.

Steyn, as well as Duanne Olivier (1/36) and Kagiso Rabada (2/48), made life difficult for the Sri Lankans with a barrage of short-pitched bowling.

At tea on day two, the Proteas were yet to start their second innings and will do so in the evening session with a lead of 44.

The Sri Lankans, who lost five wickets in the opening session of the day to go into lunch at 133/6, added another 58 hard-fought runs in the middle session before Rabada brought the innings to a close as debutant Lasith Embuldeniya (24) was out looking to be aggressive.

There was earlier resistance from Kusal Perera, who carded a fine 51 before he fell looking to go after Steyn only to find substitute fielder Zubayr Hamza at deep extra cover.  

Before that and shortly after lunch, Steyn had removed Suranga Lakmal (4) with a length delivery that was hit to Aiden Markram at cover.

Markram was also responsible for breaking a resilient ninth-wicket stand of 32 between Kasun Rajitha (12) and Embuldeniya.

Steyn, clearly keen on five wickets, bowled 10 overs on the trot in search of the scalp that would have seen him tie Stuart Broad on 437 Test wickets.

He would have got there had Dean Elgar not dropped an absolute sitter at gully, and Steyn could only shake his head and smile at that point.

Before lunch, Sri Lanka lost five wickets, having scored just 84 runs in the session.

Source: Sport24