Colombo, July 24 : Former skipper Mahela Jayawardene unbeaten 140 helped Sri Lanka to end Day One of the second Test against South Africa on a healthy 305 for the loss of five wickets.

At the end of the day's play at the Sinhalese Sports Club, Jayawardene walked off to a huge applause after scoring his 34th Test century, while giving some hope to his Sri Lankan team mates of putting up a healthy and challenging total for the Proteas.

It was Jayawardene's 11th Test hundred at his home ground, and extended his lead at the top of the list for most Test runs scored at a single venue.

Earlier in the day, after Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first, the hosts were quickly put on the defensive, losing three wickets for 143 shortly after lunch. Another quick wicket, and South Africa would have had a crack at Sri Lanka's inexperienced lower-middle order. With Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne, two youngsters in whom Sri Lanka had placed immense amount of faith, dropped, the batsmen to follow were Kithuruwan Vithanage and debutant Niroshan Dickwella. That breakthrough didn't arrive, as Jayawardene and the in-form skipper Angelo Mathews put on a century stand.

They took no risks, but still scored at a brisk pace, latching on to the regular bad ball. The closest South Africa came to a wicket in the second session was when an off-balance de Villiers couldn't fire in a direct hit just before drinks.

The session ended with Jayawardene top-edging a boundary to fine leg to bring up his hundred, one of the rare false strokes in a typically polished innings, where he once again demonstrated the value of timing, touch and placement.

Mathews picked up most of his runs with drives and nudges to the leg side, though he also pounced on the many short and wide deliveries on offer, crashing them past point. With the attack fading, Mathews went for one more cut when Duminy dropped short, only to edge through to the keeper. Once again the part-time off spinner had delivered an unexpected breakthrough for South Africa.

Masthews was replaced by Vithanage who failed to negotiate a short-ball barrage from Steyn before being undone by a bouncer from Morne Morkel. Dickwella faced a testing time before stumps, but he survived with the help of the DRS.

South African fast bowler Dale Steyn finished with three of the five wickets to fall, while Duminy claimed the remaining two. (ANI)