Ken Borland

South Africa’s batsmen suffered another bitter Kingsmead failure as left-armers Chanaka Welegedara and Rangana Herath ran through them on the second day of the second test against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.

    Welegedara claimed career-best figures of five for 52 in 16.4 overs, while spinner Herath took four for 49 as South Africa were bowled out for just 168, giving Sri Lanka a first-innings lead of 170.

    Sri Lanka lost the wicket of captain Tillakaratne Dilshan, caught in the slips off Dale Steyn for four, and reached seven for one in their second innings before the umpires stopped play due to bad light.

    South Africa, who have lost their last three tests at Kingsmead, collapsed dramatically after tea, losing their last seven wickets for 65 runs.

    Several of them were dismissed playing loose strokes, with AB de Villiers (25) steering the fifth ball after tea, from Welegedara, straight to second slip, to give South Africa the worse possible start to the final session.

    Hashim Amla (54) edged a flatfooted prod outside off stump at Welegedara to wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal, while Ashwell Prince (11) was caught trying to reverse-sweep Herath.

    Herath also picked up the wickets of Mark Boucher for three and Morne Morkel for a duck as South Africa crashed to 119 for eight. They only managed to avoid the follow-on because the tailenders managed to hang about.

    Imran Tahir scored 11 before one of his few attempts to defend the ball resulted in him being stumped off Herath, while last man Marchant de Lange was caught behind for nine off Welegedara.

    Steyn decided that attack was the best form of resistance as he struck two fours and two sixes in his 29 not out.

    But South Africa’s ignominous collapse followed totals of 138 against Australia and 133 versus England in Durban in 2009; and 131 all out against India a year ago.

    Sri Lanka were forced to come out and bat for 2.1 overs in gloomy light, with the floodlights on, and Dilshan clubbed a four over cover-point before edging Steyn’s next delivery to second slip.

    Tharanga Paranivatana, who is yet to score, and Kumar Sangakkara, on three, will be there to build on Sri Lanka’s considerable lead on the third morning.

    Amla’s counter-attacking half-century had steered South Africa to 100 for three at tea, after the home team had slumped to 27 for three.

Welegedara started the rot with two wickets in four balls, removing Graeme Smith for 15 and Jacques Kallis for a duck.

Jacques Rudolph fell for seven when he pulled a short, leg-side delivery from Thisara Perera to fine-le,g where Welegedara lunged forward to take a good catch.

Earlier, fast bowler De Lange grabbed seven wickets on his debut, while Thilan Samaraweera compiled his 13th test century as Sri Lanka chalked up 338, their biggest total in South Africa.

De Lange took seven for 81 as Sri Lanka were bowled out 35 minutes before lunch. The 21-year-old’s figures are the best by a South African against this opposition – surpassing Shaun Pollock’s six for 30 in Cape Town in 2000-01.

Samaraweera, 35, scored 102 to steer Sri Lanka past their previous best total of 323 at Centurion in 2002-03.

De Lange’s burst of three wickets in eight balls cut short Sri Lanka’s resistance after they had resumed on 289 for seven.

Samaraweera, who resumed on 86, continued to bat in a controlled fashion as he and Herath put on 46 for the eighth wicket.

De Lange then cleaned up the tail by removing Herath (30) and Welegedara (2) with nasty, lifting deliveries.

Samaraweera was last man out, caught by deep cover Prince off the young paceman.

South Africa lead the three-match series 1-0.