Thilan Samaraweera and Dinesh Chandimal batted Sri Lanka out of danger as they steered the visitors to 289 for seven at stumps on the first day of the second test against South Africa at Kingsmead on Monday.
Sri Lanka had elected to bat first under clear blue skies on a brown-coloured pitch, but their top-order batsmen lost concentration at key moments as they slipped to 162 for five..
But Samaraweera and debutant Chandimal put together an outstanding record sixth-wicket partnership of 111 to take Sri Lanka to 273 for six before Chandimal was out eight overs before the close.
The 22-year-old Chandimal scored 58 off 86 balls, with seven fours, before he reached out to try and cut a wide delivery from Morne Morkel, but edged the ball to wicketkeeper Mark Boucher.
The partnership bettered the previous sixth-wicket record for Sri Lanka against South Africa of 105 between Chamana Kapugedera and Prasanna Jayawardene in Colombo in 2006.
Samaraweera, who played with the straightest of bats and great application, reached the close on 86 not out, losing Thisara Perera with what turned out to be the last ball of the day’s play.
Perera scored 12 before he fended at a lifter from debutant fast bowler Marchant de Lange, giving an easy catch to Hashim Amla at backward short-leg.
De Lange, who caused obvious discomfort with his sharp pace and steep bounce off a short run-up, was the best of the South African bowlers with four for 60 in 16.3 overs.
Imran Tahir was the unluckiest of the bowlers, finishing with one for 87 in 28 overs, but the Pakistan-born leg-spinner had Chandimal dropped on 25 by the leaping De Lange, the replacement for the injured Vernon Philander, and should have claimed the wicket of Samaraweera on 50 when the veteran popped back a return catch, but the umpire called a no-ball which television replays subsequently showed to be a legitimate delivery.
De Lange had taken three wickets by tea to reduce Sri Lanka to 197 for five, Mahela Jayawardene having earlier joined an exclusive club, becoming the ninth batsman to reach 10,000 test runs.
Jayawardene, Sri Lanka’s leading test-run scorer, reached the landmark with a single off the ninth delivery he faced, pushing fast bowler Dale Steyn square on the off-side.
The former captain reached 31 in his 127th test before falling in the second over after lunch as he played all around a delivery from Morkel, the ball nipping back and coming through the gate to bowl Jayawardene.
The 21-year-old De Lange had been brought on after just six overs and he made an almost instant impact with figures of two for five from his first four overs.
De Lange struck with the final ball of his second over when Tharanga Paranavitana chased a delivery outside off stump and edged a catch to Boucher to fall for 12.
Kumar Sangakkara, the leading batsman on the International Cricket Council’s official test rankings, was then caught behind for a duck off the second ball of De Lange’s following over.
The left-hander was forced to play at an excellent delivery that pitched back-of-a-length and held its line just outside off stump, inducing a thin edge and another catch for Boucher as the tourists slipped to 47 for two.
The tall Easterns Titans bowler struck again after lunch when he took a good reflex catch off his own bowling to remove Angelo Mathews for 30 and end a promising fifth-wicket stand of 45 with Samaraweera.
Samaraweera, who batted for four-and-a-half hours and faced 218 balls, showed the most application and technical skill of the Sri Lankans. The 35-year-old collected 10 fours, seven of them in the “V”.
Captain and opening batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan survived several rash shots at the start of his innings but made it to 47 off 69 balls before swinging a low full toss from Tahir straight to Morkel at long-leg.