Domingo: We must remain positive

Proteas coach Russell Domingo said that his charges needed to remain positive if they wished to save the second Test against Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.

Proteas coach Russell Domingo said that his charges needed to remain positive if they wished to save the second Test against Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.

The hosts took charge of the match as they dismissed the Proteas for 282 on the third day.

Sri Lanka started their second innings in the final session and survived the five overs before stumps without losing a wicket.

At close Sri Lanka had already extended their first innings lead to 150 runs.

"How we start with the new ball tomorrow is going to be very important," said Domingo

"If we can get them under a little bit of pressure, they might take a little bit longer to get their runs.

"They might be 60 for four, or there might be a lead of 240 with six or seven down with us ending up chasing 240 with four sessions to play. You are still very much in the game if this situation arises."

One of only a few highlights for the touring side was Hashim Amla's 22nd Test century while Dale Steyn (30) and Imran Tahir (15) played their part in eating up as much time as they could.

"He was really patient," Domingo said of Amla's unbeaten 139 which he accumulated over eight hours.

"He applied himself really well. He has got his strategy and game plan that he wants to employ and he stuck to that extremely well today."

"Runs and time are such crucial aspects," Domnigo added.

"It would have been great to have got another 100 runs but it would have also been great to have scored 50 runs less and batted for another three or four hours. We know we have a lot of hard work ahead of us in this test match."

Domingo insisted his players would look to past experiences to find a way out of the dire situation the currently find themselves in.

"They have done it before and it's at times like this where we will fall back from the experiences of past performances," Domingo said.

"You don't need to think too far back; this side has been in positions where it hasn't looked like they have a chance of surviving and then getting really close to surviving."

"If you look at the last Test match against Australia, we were three down in the first 10 overs and lost it with three overs to spare. We did it in Adelaide and we did it in Johannesburg against India. You call on those experiences at times like this."

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