"I thought they bowled to a fine line and length with the field set well, so it was hard to get runs," said Jayawardene, who struck an unbeaten 116 in a team score of

279-7.

"The two early wickets from (Shaun) Pollock prevented us from dominating. He was brilliant. He had the experience and knew what to do," said Jayawardene.

"He bowled as straight as possible, which is the best way to go on this kind of wicket for a paceman. I thought the South Africans bowled to a plan and put pressure on us," he said.

"Their left-arm spinner (Nicky Boje) got appreciable turn too," said Jayawardene, who had also struck a century when Sri Lanka beat South Africa at the same venue four years ago.

Jayawardene was not surprised the visiting side had picked only one specialist spinner, leaving out other left-armer Robin Peterson.

"They picked their best side, which is a balanced one. But no way can this pitch get better and they have the disadvantage of batting last."

Galle has a spinner-friendly wicket on which Sri Lankan star Muttiah Muralitharan has a huge tally of 82 wickets in 10 Tests.

They also have on their ranks leg-spinner Upul Chandana and left-arm spinner Sanath Jayasuriya apart from other part-timers.

Seamer Pollock felt they were still in the match due to their effort Wednesday.

"We are happy, especially with the last two wickets of the day as that helps the morale in the dressing room. We picked up two early wickets, got some more at regular intervals before the success late in the evening," said Pollock.

"We have to believe that we can bowl them early tomorrow," said Pollock, who returned figures of 4-24 to close in on his 17th five-wicket haul in 84 Tests.

"It wasn't easy bowling here but we had a nice sea breeze and something in the air. It is always good if you can get that kind of help in the sub-continent," he said.