Inzamam's invaluable fifty came from 87 deliveries

South Africa closed day two of the second Test with Pakistan still 26 runs behind at 115-3.

Pakistan added 130 with their remaining four wickets, skipper Inzamam playing a masterful knock and shielding the tail.

Makhaya Ntini notched his 300th Test victim, but Inzamam moved to 92, adding 74 with last man Mohammad Asif (7).

The skipper then held a superb diving catch to oust Graeme Smith for 10 and the home side slipped to 61-3 before Jacques Kallis struck an unbeaten 50.

Having been frustrated in their attempts to polish off the Pakistan tail, the South Africans had a difficult 13 over session to negotiate before tea as they tried to erase a 141-run first innings deficit.

One consolation for them was that there was no Shoaib Akhtar to race in, the paceman sidelined by a hamstring injury.

Ntini celebrates his 300th wicket in typically exuberant fashion

But Smith soon departed, squared up by a good one from Asif, and Inzamam continued his impressive day by swooping to his left to clutch a sharp chance.

AB de Villiers, who made only 16 runs in his two innings in the first Test, looked out of sorts again and saw his middle stump uprooted by Asif.

On a pacy but true surface, another South African batsman also lost his middle pole as Mohammad Sami jagged one back to dislodge Hashim Amla.

With South Africa desperate for consolidation, Kallis was joined by the determined Ashwell Prince, and the pair survived the remaining 33 overs.

In the final over before stumps, Kallis recorded his 43rd Test fifty with a classical cover drive, but will need to add many more if his team are to avoid defeat, with three days still to play.

Pakistan, seeking to level the series, resumed at 135-6 and added useful, debilitating runs when tailender Sami hit two fours in an over, much to the annoyance of Andre Nel.

But to the great delight of Ntini, who revealed an inscribed t-shirt proclaiming "Mdingi Express 300", a reference to his home village, he nipped one back and caught the inside edge to secure his landmark.

Short balls accounted for Shoaib Akhtar and Danish Kaneria but Inzamam stood firm to make his 46th Test fifty.

De Villiers had no answer to a quick ball from Mohammad Asif

Pakistan were already 11 runs ahead of South Africa's mediocre 124 going into the second day at Port Elizabeth, and looked set for a commanding advantage when Inzamam and Sami took their partnership to 31 from 49 balls.

But Ntini's pace and the agility of keeper Mark Boucher signalled the key wicket, the paceman becoming the 21st man to reach the 300 wicket stage, and the third South African.

The Pakistan tailenders were clearly uncomfortable against the short ball and this was not lost on the experienced South African bowlers, with venerable all-rounders Kallis and Shaun Pollock soon brought into the attack.

Shoaib, after fending off some brutal deliveries awkwardly, finally succumbed to Kallis, while Danish Kaneria could only glove Pollock tamely to the gully.

Kallis even employed the short ball to the kingpin himself, Inzamam, and might have dismissed the captain when he was on 35 and the score 195-9.

Inzamam, trying to take as much of the strike as possible, saw the need to find more runs and hooked at the fifth ball of the over.

He could only glove a quick delivery down the leg-side but Boucher could not cling on to the chance one-handed at full stretch to his left.

The skipper seemed destined to complete his personal set of a century against every Test-playing nation, but partner Asif saw his off-stump uprooted by Ntini, who finished with 6-59.