"We are not giving up. Obviously they are in front of us, but if we can get a couple of early wickets tomorrow, we can still push them back," Mathews said. "And if we can, you know, get through the new ball, if we can push them back into second and third spells and make them tire a little bit, then we have a chance."

Instead, the evidence of the last three days is that it remains good for run-scoring which has given Sri Lanka hope that they can tackle a big chase.

"It's playing pretty well. It's just the odd one, keeping low and taking off, but it's playing pretty well. There's something always for the seamers and also a couple of balls also turned," Mathews said. "It's a good, even wicket and even contest with bat and ball on this wicket so it's a great wicket to play on."

What they may regret is that that could have been much higher. At 242 for 3 overnight, they were eyeing a first-innings lead but Mathews conceded Sri Lanka were "unable to capitalise," because of a "couple of good balls."

"The ball is coming off six foot nine or something. Obviously, he gets bounce on any wicket," Mathews said. "The Durban wickets also, he got a lot of bounce. We couldn't really handle him in the first innings of the Durban Test. And also here he keeps troubling our batters. We played him pretty well this time around, but still he keeps troubling us. We need to come up with some more plans to try and combat his bounce. That's what's worrying: the odd one takes off on a good length as well because of his height."

Jansen aside, Sri Lanka will have to contend with Kagiso Rabada, who was South Africa's best bowler on the second day but only got one wicket, and Dane Paterson, high on confidence after his first five-for and operating on a pitch suited to his style of play.

"He [Paterson] reminds me of Vernon Philander. It's really hard to score off him, and he's just landing it on the spot consistently. So, yes, there's a lot of hard work to put in, but yeah, we are willing to do that."

Kusal Mendis, who is in this team too, scored an unbeaten 84 off 110 balls to seal a series win. That can't be done this time, but Sri Lanka could square the contest 1-all and keep themselves in the running for the WTC final.