De Silva made 43 not out as Sri Lanka struggled to 181 for seven – still 105 runs behind South Africa’s first innings total of 286 – before bad light ended play.

South African new ball bowlers Vernon Philander and Kyle Abbott put the Sri Lankan batsmen under pressure in seam-friendly conditions, with the first three wickets falling for 22 runs.

It looked as though a full-scale collapse was possible but Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews made a solid 39 before De Silva came out to bat at number seven and played an impressive innings, with assistance from Dinesh Chandimal and Rangana Herath.

It was not a wholly impressive performance by the South African bowlers. Philander and Abbott both bowled well, taking three for 35 and two for 49 respectively, but rising star Kagiso Rabada had an off day. De Silva, playing in only his sixth Test, showed some of the quality that has already brought him centuries against Australia and Zimbabwe, although he survived a caught and bowled chance to left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj when he was on 27. When play ended he had faced 69 balls and hit five fours.

The day started well for Sri Lanka when fast bowler Suranga Lakmal, playing in his 32nd Test, took his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket, finishing with five for 63, as South Africa lost their last four wickets for 19 runs.

The previous Test best for Lakmal, 29, was four for 78 against Pakistan in Dubai in January 2014.

Philander was caught at deep square leg when he top-edged a pull against Nuwan Pradeep in the fifth over of the morning after South Africa had resumed at 267 for six. Maharaj edged an away swinger to wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal to give Lakmal his fifth wicket and Abbott was run out after a mix-up with Quinton de Kock.

But the hosts hit back almost immediately as Philander and Abbott ripped into their batting. Both gained appreciable movement through the air and off the pitch as three wickets fell in the first eight overs before captain Mathews joined a patient Kaushal Silva to add 39 runs for the fourth wicket.

Silva was the only one of the top four in the Sri Lankan batting order to show a solid defensive technique in tricky conditions.

But he made only 16 off 108 balls before he was leg before wicket to Philander, who produced a ball that cut back after a succession of deliveries that left the batsman.

While Haddin acknowledged the New South Welshman desperately needed a score after starting his Test career with three single-figure contributions, he called for patience as Australia ushers in a new era.

Maddinson has been retained in Australia’s squad for the second Commonwealth Bank Test against Pakistan, starting on Boxing Day, but allrounder Hilton Cartwright has also been drafted in as a 13th member, and could replace Maddinson in the Test XI.

Captain Steve Smith flagged on Monday Australia might look to ease the load on pacemen Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Jackson Bird with an allrounder. The fast-bowling trio sent down 113 overs between them in the second innings of the home team’s 39-run triumph in Brisbane.

Cartwright, who averages 44.50 with the bat and 41.93 with the ball from in 16 first-class matches, was added to the squad yesterday.

Maddinson made a duck on debut against South Africa in Adelaide last month – undone by a rampant Kagiso Rabada with the pink ball under lights – before Australia powered to a seven-wicket victory.

The 24-year-old, who has an average of 36.64 at first-class level, followed up with scores one and four at the Gabba.

Steve Smith reacts moments after the drama

Maddinson was unfortunate in the second innings, arriving at the crease with Australia in search of quick runs before a declaration.

The aggressive left-hander has logged 235 runs at 39.16, including one century, from three Sheffield Shield matches this summer.

Quick Single: Cartwright added for Boxing Day

“He’s been a bit unlucky, to be honest,” Haddin said on Sky Sports Radio.

“He’s got a couple of good balls, he’s (played his first two games) against two pink balls which is a bit different, so I’m glad they’ve given him Melbourne to give him the opportunity to get some runs and I hope they give him the rest of the series.

“I know (interim chairman of selectors) Trevor Hohns said when he picked this squad that you’re going to have to be patient, and Nic Maddinson is one of those players I think.

“But you can’t hide behind the fact he needs a big score.”

Maddinson’s rocky road in Test career continues

Maddinson was one of five changes in a revamped line-up for the Adelaide Test against South Africa, with Matthew Renshaw and Peter Handscomb also making their debuts.

Renshaw scored 71 in the first innings in Brisbane, while Handscomb hammered his maiden Test century to back up the 54 he made in Adelaide.

“The bowlers got through a high workload in Brisbane and although everyone has pulled up okay, on reflection we wanted to give ourselves the option of including an allrounder in Melbourne to ease that workload somewhat,” Hohns said.

Cartwright reflects on training with Aussie squad

“To do that we wanted a batting allrounder, someone to bowl seam-up and capable of batting in the top six as well, and after considering several names we came to the conclusion that Hilton fits that bill.

“We have seen plenty of him, he has performed well this season and we believe that if called upon he will do an excellent job.”

Australia’s Boxing Day Test squad: David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith (c), Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Jackson Bird, Chadd Sayers, Hilton Cartwright

Steyn, who grabbed five for 33 in the second innings in what was his 26th five-wicket haul, finished with match figures of eight for 99 to regain the top slot.

After reclaiming the No.1 ranking in February 2014 against Australia at Centurion, the 33-year-old had enjoyed the top spot until a shoulder injury in the Durban Test against England in December 2015 limited his bowling. India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took advantage of Steyn’s absence and backed up by some strong individual performances, finished the year as the top-ranked bowler.

Steyn has leapfrogged Ashwin and top-ranked England pace bowler James Anderson to take the top slot, which he first occupied jointly with retired Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralidaran in April 2008.

Steyn has now been number-one for a record 263 Tests with Muralidaran coming second in the list at 214 weeks. In terms of days, Steyn has spent 2,320 days at the top, the most by any bowler since World War II.

Steyn’s compatriot fast bowlers – Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada – have also made significant gains in the latest bowlers’ rankings, which were released on Wednesday morning.

Philander, who took four wickets in the Centurion Test, has moved from 13th to 11th position, while Rabada has gained three places to rise to 27th position after grabbing five wickets in the match. ICC

The Proteas can nudge up one place to sixth in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings if they win, while the Black Caps will remain fifth irrespective of the result.

But the reputation of Test cricket is at much at stake as rankings points after a farcical first Test in Durban where less than 100 overs of cricket were played before a wet, soft outfield prevented any play on the last three days. There was even less cricket in a Test match between the West Indies and India in Port of Spain, also because of outfield conditions.

It is the first time Test cricket has been played in South Africa in August, almost two months before the usual start of the season.

Preparing grounds for winter conditions has been a challenge – which Durban failed to meet after re-seeding the outfield only two months before the match. Following reports from the match referees, the outfields in Durban and Port of Spain were condemned as “poor” by the ICC.

Centurion groundsman Rudolph du Preez had the advantage of planting winter grass much earlier than Durban, with work starting in April, almost immediately after the 2015-16 season.

He said it was necessary to plant winter grass because fielders struggled on dry, dormant summer grass when the same two countries met in a one-day international in August last year.

With virtually no rain falling on the South African Highveld during winter – and no rain predicted during the Test – Du Preez is confident that conditions will be suitable for Test cricket. He said more time had been necessary to prepare the pitch because cool conditions meant it took longer to dry out after watering.

Du Preez said he did not expect uneven bounce to be as much of a factor as it has been in the later stages of matches in recent seasons.

“It might not deteriorate as we are used to. It might be a little bit slower, it might be holding back a bit more,” he said. Centurion has been a fortress for South Africa in Test cricket, with the home side having won 16 of the 21 Tests at the ground. Their only two losses were against England in a contrived result in 1999-2000, engineered by the late Hansie Cronje before he was banned from cricket because of his association with bookmakers, and against Australia in 2013-14.

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (capt), Dean Elgar, Stephen Cook, Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wkt), Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn, Dane Piedt

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt), Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, BJ Watling (wkt), Mitchell Santner, Doug Bracewell, Neil Wagner, Tim Southee, Trent Boult

Man of the Series Ben Stokes

The hosts needed little more than an hour on the final day to reduce England, who won the series 2-1, from 52 for three to 101 all out with Rabada returning match figures of 13-144 to confirm his rich potential. The 20-year-old’s figures are second only to Makhaya Ntini’s 13-132 against West Indies in 2005 and Rabada became the youngest South African to take 10 wickets in a test match.

Although the series had already been decided, the victory was a welcome one for South Africa after a run of nine games without success stretching back more than a year had caused them to be knocked off the top of the world rankings by India. “The boys were fired up for this test and we’ll enjoy the celebrations,” captain AB de Villiers said at the presentation ceremony.

“We showed a lot of character and hopefully we can build on this now. There is a bright future for us.”

Chasing an unlikely victory target of 382 on a wearing wicket, England’s hopes of batting out the day were undone by a combination of rash stroke-making and excellent swing bowling.

James Taylor (24) got a snorter from Morne Morkel (3-36) that brushed his glove and was caught by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock to kickstart a procession of England batsmen.

Joe Root (20), who had already been dropped by De Kock off Dane Piedt, drove wildly at the spinner and was caught at slip by Dean Elgar.

Rabada then got in on the act as he was made to celebrate his record-breaking 10-wicket haul twice — first having Jonny Bairstow (14) caught at slip off a no-ball and then inducing another edge from the very next delivery to De Kock.

Man-of-the-series Ben Stokes (10) was caught at deep midwicket off Morkel as he fell into a short-ball trap, before Rabada cleaned up the tail efficiently for innings figures of 6-32. “It’s been a disappointing five days with the way we have played,” England skipper Alastair Cook said. “We haven’t quite been on it and had to try hang in there. Credit to South Africa, they played well.” The teams will now play a five-match one-day international series starting on Feb. 3, followed by two Twenty20 games. – Agencies