Close Sri Lanka 263 for 6 (Tillekeratne 82*)
scorecard

After their fragile batting effort in the first Test at Johannesburg, Sri Lanka showed far more fight on the first day of the second Test at Centurion. After being put in to bat on a grassless track they reached a respectable 263 for 6 by the close, largely thanks to a solid anchor innings from Hashan Tillekeratne.

Tillekeratne batted with composure for two sessions, surviving one chance, when on 35 he cut Shaun Pollock hard to Jacques Kallis at second slip. He batted for 241 minutes and faced 181 balls. The majority of his 15 fours were hit square on both sides of the wicket.

Pollock had expected to inflict further scars – both physical and mental – with South Africa's five-prong pace attack. But despite an overcast morning and a typically lively first spell from Makhaya Ntini, Sri Lanka made steady progress throughout the day.

Pollock's decision might not have backfired anything like as spectacularly as Nasser Hussain's last week, but he will have to bat last on a wicket which was producing puffs of dust in the final hour. Injured or not, Muttiah Muralitharan will be increasingly important as the match progresses.

South Africa's bowling was not nearly as controlled as it had been in Johannesburg, Kallis in particular struggling for rhythm. That allowed Sri Lanka to start brightly, and although they lost Marvan Atapattu, captain for the first time in place of the injured Sanath Jayasuriya, inside the first hour, they rarely looked troubled. Atapattu looked in good touch for his 17, until he miscued an attempted pull off Kallis and popped a simple catch to Gary Kirsten at short leg (34 for 1).

They lost a second wicket on the stroke of lunch, Kumar Sangakkara ruining his good work in reaching 38 with a careless back-foot slash off Andrew Hall to Shaun Pollock at first slip (90 for 2). It gave the morning an appearance of equality which the bowling didn't warrant.

Jehan Mubarak's impressive 48 ended shortly after the break when he chased an awayswinger from Pollock and edged to Graeme Smith at slip (108 for 3). Mubarak had batted with poise and no little panache in only his second Test. A touch hit-and-miss at first, he found his touch with some sumptuous drives.

Mahela Jayawardene and Tillekeratne put on a brisk 65 for the fourth wicket before Jayawardene chopped Pollock into his stumps for 44 (190 for 4) and a collapse seemed on the cards when Russel Arnold followed his pair at Johannesburg with 2, snicking Kallis to Mark Boucher (207 for 5).

But Tillekeratne, aided by Hasantha Fernando (24), held firm and pushed the score along to the obvious frustration of the tiring South Africans. It took a vicious bouncer from Ntini in the penultimate over to separate the pair, Fernando failing to get over an intended backward-defensive shot and only looping the ball to Kallis at second slip (263 for 6).

That gave a final fillip to South Africa, but after strolls against Bangladesh and in the first Test against Sri Lanka they were finally reminded what it was like to struggle in the field.

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