Despite a dressing room riddled with flu and a brave, if unexpected, third wicket partnership between Russel Arnold and Kumar Sangakkara, South Africa seemed to be heading for a second successive victory inside three days at stumps on the second day of the third Castle Lager/MTN Test match at SuperSport Park on Sunday.

With this Test match roaring along with much the same pace and fury as had been evident on Saturday, South Africa are so much in command that any result other than comprehensive victory is almost inconceivable.

At the close on Sunday night, Sri Lanka were 184 for three in their second innings, having been bowled out for 119 earlier in the day. All this was in response to South Africa's 378.

It may seem, it certainly did seem that some of the puff went out of the South Africans in Sunday's final session, but it has emerged that several of the side were not feeling at all well on Sunday. Neither manager Goolam Rajah nor coach Graham Ford were at the ground for the second day and at one point or the other Allan Donald, Boeta Dippenaar and Daryll Cullinan were all treated for nausea.

A bug has gone around the dressing room, hardly surprisingly considering the close quarters in which the team lives, and it may explain the listless apparent in the late afternoon.

It is all the more remarkable, then, that South Africa have so dominated this match. The Sri Lankan first innings was a shambles, closely resembling the capitulation during the first day at Newlands. If anything, it was a worse batting performance because Donald was obviously out of sorts even if he managed to capture two first innings wickets.

From the moment that Marvan Atapattu was needlessly run out for 3, Sri Lanka contrived to keep on handing the initiative to the home team. Sanath Jayasuriya committed a schoolboy's error when he top-edged Donald to third man, Sangakkara played on off a cross-bat defensive stroke and perhaps only Aravinda de Silva, quite brilliantly caught at point by Herschelle Gibbs, could count himself unfortunate out of the top order.

Shaun Pollock couldn't take a wicket after his maiden century on the first day and Donald was struggling, but Makhaya Ntini took four for 39 either side to underline the huge strides he has taken as an international bowler this season.

And with Justin Kemp taking two maiden Test wickets, Sri Lanka lasted less than 37 overs in the first innings.

The follow on was the obvious next step and although Pollock managed to break through with Atapattu's wicket while Jacques Kallis got rid of Mahela Jayawardene at 43 for two, Sri Lanka finally managed to summon up some resistance.

Donald had two dreadful overs that cost him 21 as Arnold slapped him all over the place and the Sri Lankan third wicket pair added113 in 106 minutes to check the South African steamroller.

Throughout Pollock attacked, deigning the use of a third man which accounted for probably half the runs scored by the Sri Lankans and it was the spinner Nicky Boje who finally broke through, Arnold top-edging a sweep to be caught at slip for 71.

It was a handy innings and demonstrated again that he is a doughty fighter and with Sangakkara ending the day unbeaten 64, Sri Lanka weren't quite as embarrassed at the close as they might have been.

There is still some batting to come. Jayasuriya has held himself back in the second innings and has yet to come to the crease. There was speculation that the flu bug might have crossed the glass barrier that separates the two dressing rooms but a more likely explanation is that he has played so poorly that he decided to see if someone else could do better.

De Silva has also only just arrived at the crease, but the Sri Lankans have a long tail and if the wicket juices up overnight – as it did on Saturday night – the tourists could crumble quickly. Put it this way, a number of golf matches have already been arranged for Tuesday's fourth day.

© CricInfo