Pretoria - South Africa grabbed the prized West Indies wickets of Marlon Samuels and Shivnarine Chanderpaul just before tea to send the tourists into the interval reeling on 184 for six on day three of the opening Test on Friday.
West Indies are still 168 runs away from the follow-on target after South Africa had declared their first innings on 552 for five before rain intervened on day two.
Samuels, who scored a double-hundred in West Indies' only warm-up fixture ahead of this Test, played onto his stumps from Morne Morkel for 33, a dismissal that made some obscure Test history.
It is the first time in 137 years of the five-day game that the top four batsmen have all been out for between 30 and 35 runs.
More importantly, it will be a huge source of frustration for the West Indies management that none of their top order were able to convert good starts into bigger scores.
Veteran Chanderpaul bucked the trend batting at five by scoring 21 before he was caught at second slip by Alviro Petersen off Vernon Philander, who was the pick of the home bowlers with his immaculate line and length leading to figures of four for 26.
The other wickets to fall in the afternoon session were that of left-hander Leon Johnson (31), who drove Kyle Abbott to substitute fielder Robin Peterson at cover, and Jermaine Blackwood (12), brilliantly caught by Petersen off Philander with the last ball before tea.
Captain Denesh Ramdin (nine) will resume after the interval with that follow-on target in the front of his mind.
The morning had belonged to West Indies, but could have been better as a controversial review decision soured a positive start.
After an opening stand of 72, Philander tucked up left-handed opener Devon Smith with a ball into his ribs and stand-in wicketkeeper AB de Villiers took the catch behind the wicket.
Umpire Billy Bowden ruled there was no edge on the bat, while replays showed the ball had brushed Smith's thigh.
South Africa sent the decision for review though and a mystery spike on the Snickometer after the ball had passed the bat attracted the interest of third umpire Paul Reiffel and he overturned Bowden's decision and sent Smith back to the pavilion for 35.
The tourists, who had looked relatively untroubled on a flat wicket, then lost their other opener Kraigg Brathwaite one run later as he steered Philander to Hashim Amla at first slip after he had scored 34. - Reuters