Dale Steyn picked up four wickets on day two as Sri Lanka found themselves on the back-foot in the first Test against South Africa at Durban on Thursday.

The islanders were bowled out for just 191 runs in their first innings, handing the Proteas a vital 44-run lead in the Durban Test.

Steyn picked up 4-48 from his 20 overs to take his overall Test tally to 437 scalps. The veteran South African pacer has now moved past former India skipper Kapil Dev’s haul of 434 wickets and is currently tied with Stuart Broad in seventh spot in the all-time leading wicket-takers’ list in Test cricket.

Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada chipped in with two wickets each on Thursday as the visitors found the going tough on a seaming pitch at Durban. Only Kusal Perera was able to muster some form of resistance for Sri Lanka with a fighting half-century.

Having started the day at 49-1, Sri Lanka were given two early jolts with skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and Oshada Fernando falling to Philander and Steyn respectively.

Kusal Perera top-scored for Sri Lanka with 51.

Wickets then kept falling at regular intervals for the tourists before Perera’s half-century took them past the 150-run mark.

South Africa were then reduced to 126-4 in their second innings with debutant Lasith Embuldeniya picking up two wickets. The Sri Lankan left-armed spinner accounted for Temba Bavuma and Dean Elgar in the final session of the day as South Africa extended their overall lead to 170.

Earlier on day one, the hosts had been bowled out for 235 runs in the first innings with wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock registering a counter-attacking 80.

BRIEF SCORES

South Africa first innings: 235 all out

Sri Lanka first innings: 191 all out

Kusal Perera: 51 (63)

Dale Steyn: 4-48

South Africa second innings: 126-4

Dean Elgar: 35 (70)

Lasith Embuldeniya: 2-36