South African captain Shaun Pollock admitted to a miscalculation against Pakistan after declaring with his side just three runs short of a new record total.

Pollock wanted to give his bowlers a chance to make early inroads into Pakistan's top order when he halted their first innings on 620 for seven at Cape Town.

"Firstly, I didn't know what the record was. It was a bit of a miscalculation on my part but I actually didn't know what the record was, " he admitted.

"I am disappointed because we have broken quite a few records in this match, but I suppose it is good to leave the old guys with one record."

The record of 622 for nine was set against Australia at Durban in February 1970, a match in which Pollock's uncle Graeme scored 274, and father Peter took three wickets.

The declaration decision also backfired as South Africa were denied a chance to bowl at Pakistan before tea.

"I thought that if you declare within 20 minutes of tea, it would be taken. I didn't realise it was half an hour.

"So when I declared I wanted to have four overs at them before the break and come out fresh after it. Unfortunately when I declared, (umpire) Steve (Bucknor) told me it was tea," said Pollock.

Pakistan reached 141 for one at the close, but he remains confident they can complete a 2-0 series win and a clean sweep of all six home Tests following victories over Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

"There is a lot of hard work to do, but I thought we bowled well.

"We were probably a bit too aggressive with attacking fields, but we were unlucky because the ball went past the bat a couple of times."