South Africa need six more wickets with two days still to play to win the second test against Sri Lanka, who closed the third day at Newlands on Wednesday on 130 for four, still 377 runs behind the mammoth target set them.

Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada both took two wickets in the Sri Lankan second innings as the home team closed in on victory and an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.

South Africa have ample time to whittle away the rest of the Sri Lankan batting while the visitors, set 507 runs to win, must survive six more sessions if they are to force a most improbable outcome.

Angelo Mathews (29 not out) and Dinesh Chandimal (28 not out) will resume on Thursday, having shown some resistance to the close of play with an unbeaten 61-run partnership.

Sri Lanka were put into bat midway through the second session after the South African lead went past 500 runs. They declared on 224 for seven, having resumed at 35-0 overnight.

South Africa scored 392 in their first innings to which Sri Lanka replied with a paltry 110.