Half-centuries to Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene have taken Sri Lanka within 90-runs of beating South Africa after four days in the second Test at Colombo.
Set a lofty 352 to get in the second innings, Jayasuriya kick-started the hosts' run-chase with a mercurial 73 from 74 balls.
With a day to play in the second Test, Sri Lanka went to stumps on 262-5 after Jaywardene battled to an unbeaten 77 in the final session.
Earlier in the day, the remaining South African batsmen were unravelled by Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.
Heading to the middle on 257-7, the tourists slumped to be all out for 310 after the world-class spinner claimed the last three scalps.
Muralitharan ended the innings with figures of 7-97, equalling his own record of four consecutive 10-wicket hauls in Tests.
Mark Boucher was the pick of the visiting batsman with a solid 65, the wicket-keeper also adding a valuable 29 runs for the last wicket with tail-ender Mahkaya Ntini.
Sri Lanka needs 90 runs to secure victory on the final day and it has five wickets in hand.
Its most successful chase so far in Test cricket was 326-5 against Zimbabwe in 1997/98.
