Lee bowled with searing pace to blow the Proteas lower order away

Australia took control of the second Test against South Africa in Durban thanks to pace bowler Brett Lee.

Lee finished with 5-69, including his 200th Test wicket, after a fiery spell with the new ball as the Proteas fell from 255-5 to 267 all out on day three.

He removed Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher, Andre Nel and Makhaya Ntini, while Jacques Kallis top-scored with 114.

The Aussies lost Justin Langer (37) but Matt Hayden (35) and Ricky Ponting (48) eased them to 125-1 - a lead of 227.

It leaves them well-placed to establish a winning 2-0 lead in the series on a Kingsmead pitch offering variable bounce and assistance to seamers and spinners alike.

That did not seem certain earlier when they were frustrated by South African defiance after AB de Villiers (50) drove Stuart Clark to Hayden at gully.

Ashwell Prince played aggressively to dominate a stand of 56 with Kallis, who was far more subdued than on Saturday, and tried to get after Shane Warne from the outset.

After progressing to 33 he paid the price for his ambition by mis-timing a drive off the leg-spinner straight to Andrew Symonds at square-leg.

Kallis survived several scares to compile his 24th Test century

Kallis was struck on the elbow by a Clark delivery, nicked the same bowler just short of wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist and saw another edge off Michael Kasprowicz fly just past first slip.

But the 30-year-old hung in to complete his 24th Test hundred moments before the lunch interval with a glorious cover drive off Warne.

Even when Jacques Rudolph was outfoxed by a brilliant spell from Warne and presented a bat-pad catch to Mike Hussey, the hosts were still in with a fighting chance of a decent total until Lee blew them away.

The decline started when Kallis played too early to Clark and got a leading edge which the bowler gleefully pounced on.

Lee, who sent one delivery down at 98mph, then induced an edge off Pollock which a diving Gilchrist pouched, saw Boucher play on, while Nel and Ntini gave the close fielders easy catching practice.

Langer built on Australia's advantage with some superbly timed drives and pulls and even though he perished trying to hit Nicky Boje over the top, Ponting took up the mantle in a stand of 76 with Hayden.

Although Hayden struggled to find any fluency, the skipper ruthlessly punished anything which strayed in length or line to give his side the kind of momentum which South Africa will struggle to halt.