South Africa plans to return to traditional Test cricket strategies as they aim to take the remaining five wickets needed for victory on the final day at St George's Park. This comes after a more aggressive approach in the last 90 minutes of the fourth day failed to yield results.

Spinner Keshav Maharaj, who claimed the last wicket in the 34th over before Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva steadied Sri Lanka's innings for another 18.5 overs, emphasized the importance of maintaining tighter discipline with the aging ball. He noted that the pitch still offers good support for batting, with Sri Lanka requiring 143 more runs to level the series.

"It requires a lot of patience, especially as the ball gets older and softer. The wicket becomes a little bit more placid but we did go searching a little bit, if I'm honest," Maharaj said at the post-play press conference. "Hopefully tomorrow we'll go back to old-fashioned Test cricket like we did in that period where we got those seven wickets in the morning."

Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva have built an unbeaten partnership of 83, with both batters on 39 not out. While their increasing comfort at the crease might be worrying for South Africa, the hosts remain aware that a single breakthrough could expose the tail, potentially triggering a collapse.

"We acknowledge the bigger picture for everything, but it's about a process. The boys are very comfortable just focusing on the now and not the future," Maharaj said.