That was a fantastic partnership between Mahela and Chaminda SL coach John Dyson

Sri Lanka coach John Dyson described Mahela Jayawardene's double-century as "magnificent" after day two of the first Test against South Africa.

The hosts posted a first-innings 486 on the back of Jayawardene's 237, a knock that lasted almost 10 hours and boasted 25 boundaries and three sixes.

"I can't think of a single chance he gave during the course of the innings.

"He was aggressive in his approach and ran really well between the wickets. He batted beautifully," Dyson said.

"It was a magnificent innings.

"We were expecting to get between the 350 to 400 but that was a fantastic partnership between Mahela and Chaminda.

"We are now very happy with how the day has gone."

Jayawardene's knock fell five five runs short of his best Test knock, struck against India in 1999.

South Africa's openers saw off the new ball impressively

In the process, he set a new Sri Lankan record stand of 170 for the eighth wicket with Chaminda Vaas.

South Africa showed they were in for the long haul by reaching 82-0 in reply, thanks to makeshift first-wicket pair Martin van Jaarsveld and Boeta Dippenaar.

They opened because Herschelle Gibbs was omitted from the XI with an ankle injury and skipper Graeme Smith was laid low by a virus which struck him on Wednesday night.

"We hope to get him [Smith] on as soon as possible but we have had a fine start," acting captain Mark Boucher said.

"We have prepared quite a bit for the slow wickets here and hope to make a fight of it.

"I thought the guys fought back really well. They struck a nice balance between attack and defence.

"We said at the beginning of the series that if you go out there and wait for a ball to spit, you are fighting a losing battle.