Three centurions put South Africa A in command

Sri Lanka 180 and 10 for 0 trail South Africa 476 (Puttick 168, Petersen 121, Jacobs 100, Sujeewa de Silva 4-83) by 286 runs
Scorecard

Centuries from Andrew Puttick, Alviro Petersen and Arno Jacobs helped South Africa A take a massive first-innings lead and capitalise on the advantage created by their bowlers who had dismissed Sri Lanka A cheaply. South Africa A made 476 in their first innings in Kimberley, leaving Sri Lanka with the task of scoring 296 to avoid an innings defeat.

The bulk of South Africa's runs came from three batsmen. Puttick, Petersen and Jacobs scored 389 between them while the remaining eight contributed only 69.

They began the second day on 187 for 1 with a seven-run lead and nine wickets in hand. Puttick needed seven runs to score his second hundred of the series and, after achieving that, he and Petersen stretched South Africa A's lead by adding 225 for the second wicket. Petersen also reached his hundred and finished on 121 off 254 balls when he was trapped leg-before by Dilruwan Perera.

Sri Lanka began to fight back after that enormous partnership by striking at regular intervals. Malinga Bandara dismissed Ahmed Amla with the score on 321 and Gihan Rupasinghe finally got rid of Puttick, who scored 168 out of the team's total of 356. The damage, however, had already been done. The lead was already assuming formidable proportions and it was given a further boost by Jacobs who struck a quick century despite losing partners at the other end.

After Amla's wicket, South Africa did not have a partnership of greater than 39 but Jacobs batted through the remainder of the innings and ensured that a succession of small partnerships virtually shut Sri Lanka out of the game. He scored his hundred off 139 balls with 11 fours and two sixes and got to his century just before the last man, Yusuf Abdullah, was dismissed.

Sujeewa de Silva had the best figures for Sri Lanka, taking 4 for 83 in 23.2 overs while Bandara and Perera picked up two wickets each.

Sri Lanka's openers safely negotiated two overs before stumps to end on 10 for 0, having barely scratched the surface of the enormous challenge that awaits them on the third day.