England will be aiming to bat South Africa out of the match and the series through the afternoon session on the third day of the final Test here on Sunday.
The home team went to lunch on 53/2 having stretched their lead to 189 runs. The beleaguered Keaton Jennings was not out on 17 - which has taken him 57 balls, while the skipper Joe Root was on 13.
Jennings had survived a chance against Kagiso Rabada on nought when he edged the ball towards third slip, where a diving Dean Elgar dropped a chance he felt he should have taken.
Jennings continued to look nervous throughout his innings, but a couple of controlled reverse sweeps out of the rough against Keshav Maharaj and a lovely cover drive off Duanne Olivier suggested his confidence was gradually growing.
Morne Morkel bowled a marathon eight over spell from the James Anderson End, removing Alastair Cook and Tom Westley. It was another excellent performance from the lanky fast bowler, who has been in peak form throughout the series and has deserved more than the 17 wickets he’s picked up in this series.
Cook fell driving hard at a wide ball that flew to Theunis de Bruyn in the gully after scoring 10, while Westley, did the same, with Aiden Markram - on in place of the injured Heino Kuhn - poaching a simple catch in the gully as well after Westley had scored 9.
Kuhn, was seen sporting some heavy strapping on his left leg at the pre-match warm-ups and didn’t field at all for the 23 overs the tourists spent in the field in that opening session.
Earlier South Africa were all out for 226 giving England a lead of 136.
Morkel was left not out on 20, while Olivier, top edged a hook, and was caught behind by Jonny Bairstow off the bowling of Stuart Broad.
As a result James Anderson was denied a ‘five-fer’ at his home ground, but he will nevertheless be pleased with figures of 4/38 - his best performance here - from 17 high quality overs.