Stumps South Africa 358 and 191 for 3 (Markram 55, Bavuma 48*, Stubbs 36*, Jayasuriya 2-75)lead Sri Lanka 328 (Nissanka 89, Kamindu 48, Mathews 44, Chandimal 44, Paterson 5-71, Maharaj 2-65, Jansen 2-100) by 221 runs

Temba Bavuma and Tristan Stubbs shared an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 82 and South Africa pulled away from Sri Lanka on the third day at St George's Park. They extended their lead to 221 after taking a slim 30-run advantage from the first innings, having bowling Sri Lanka out for 328 earlier in the day.

South Africa's strong performance came on the back of Dane Paterson's first Test five-for and Aiden Markram half-century, which set up their second innings. Bavuma is two runs away from a fourth successive fifty-plus score in the series, in which he has already collected more than 300 runs. Despite not playing any competitive cricket for two months before this series as he recovered from an elbow injury, Bavuma is seeing the ball better than anyone else and has added a more aggressive style to his strokeplay.

Ten wickets fell on the third day - the most in the Test so far - but conditions were still well suited to batting under blue skies. Sri Lanka's seam attack still found some movement and there was also a hint of turn for Prabath Jayasuriya, which will likely please South Africa more than their visitors. With the surface expected to start deteriorating in dry conditions from day four, Keshav Maharaj could come into play later on. Before that, Sri Lanka will look for seven wickets with the knowledge that the highest successful chase at this ground is 271, and that South Africa are 50 runs away from that mark. But they will take heart from the glimpses of spin, especially as it has already brought some success.

Sri Lanka's first threat came through spin when Jayasuriya foxed Tony de Zorzi with one that curved through the bat-pad gap as he looked to drive and ended a 55-run first-wicket stand. De Zorzi's series ended with a disappointing total of 40 runs from four innings, having come into it on the back of registering 177 in Bangladesh.

Markram, his opening partner, fared better despite edging Asitha Fernando's second delivery. The chance fell short of second slip. Markram looked increasingly confident as his innings grew but never fully comfortable. He approached fifty when he slashed at a short, wide Vishwa delivery and edged past gully for four and got there with a gorgeous cover drive which re-asserted his control. Importantly for him, it was his first fifty in 12 completed innings across formats. He only lasted six more balls before he edged a flashing cover drive off Vishwa and was caught one-handed by a diving Kusal Mendis, whose powers of anticipation were on full display.

Ryan Rickelton started with the same watchfulness as his first innings but could not continue to another century. He missed a Jayasuriya ball that skidded on to hit him in front of middle stump and had to go for 24.

Stubbs and Bavuma, who reunited after notching up second-innings hundreds in Durban, absorbed pressure for the next eight overs. Only 13 runs were scored. Sri Lanka reviewed an lbw shout against Stubbs off Asitha when Stubbs left a ball that seemed to be going down leg. Ball-tracking confirmed that that was the case. Bavuma edged Kumara through the vacant slip area for his first boundary but then he pulled Jayasuriya in front of square and launched him over long-off, both times for six. Stubbs, as expected, was the more adventurous partner and played his shots even as the day grew long. A moment of fortune favoured Stubbs in the third-last over of the day as he attempted a reverse scoop and bottom-edged it between Mendis and first slip.

Things went South Africa's way almost from the get-go when Marco Jansen broke things open with the old ball in the 10th over of the morning. He got a delivery to kick up off the surface to a well-set Angelo Mathews, who gloved as he tried to fend it off. Kyle Verreynne took the catch in front of his face.

After conceding just 24 runs in the first 13 overs of the day, South Africa took the new ball as soon as it became available and it brought immediate reward. Kamindu Mendis, who had earlier been put down by de Zorzi at short leg, nicked off third ball as Jansen got extra bounce. Jansen then rapped Kusal Mendis on the glove first up and could have had him out twice in the space of four overs.

Kusal offered his first chance off the third ball he faced, when he was unsure about leaving a ball down leg and got bat on it. Verreynne had to dive full stretch to his left and got fingertips on it but will likely mark that down as a tough ask. The next opportunity was more straightforward. Kusal got a thick outside edge to first slip but Markam, at second, dived across David Bedingham and dropped it. Kusal then sent a healthy edge to the right of Stubbs at gully off Paterson, who took over from Jansen and would go on to have the last say.

After bowling two excellent spells on the second day, Paterson continued to find late movement and maintained tight lines, and he reaped the benefits. Dhananjaya de Silva edged the first ball of his second over, where matters hit fast-forward. Two balls later, Kusal left a delivery that nipped back into him and dislodged the bails, and two after that, Lahiru Kumara was stunningly caught by Jansen's outstretched left hand at gully. Sri Lanka went from a reasonably comfortable 297 for 5 to 298 for 8, and South Africa were 60 runs ahead.

Jayasuriya ate into that lead with three well-placed fours to drag the innings into the second session where Paterson continued in search of a five-for. He thought he had it when he hit Jayasuriya on the full on the pad and convinced Bavuma to review but ball-tracking returned an umpire's call verdict on leg stump.

In his next over, Paterson got a regulation dismissal when Vishwa Fernando edged him to Verreynne. A pumped-up Paterson brought out the baby-cradle celebration for his newborn child. Five balls later, Jayasuriya stepped far out of his crease to a tossed-up ball from Maharaj, and was stumped. Sri Lanka's innings ended 25 minutes into the second session, with South Africa 30 runs in the lead.