Sri Lankan coach Dav Whatmore insisted there was still room for improvement despite his side's determined effort on the opening day.

Hashan Tillekeratne's unbeaten 82 was the corner stone of their innings, which provided a marked contrast to their lack of resilience in the first Test at Johannesburg.

"It was a bit better, I thought," Whatmore commented.

"The area that I'm unhappy about is (batsmen) getting good starts and then getting out.

"I'm happy with the runs we scored but I thought we could have scored them with perhaps a couple of wickets less appearing on the scoreboard."

Tillekeratne benefitted from a dropped catch by Jacques Kallis at second slip when he had made 35.

"He likes playing long innings and looked like he was enjoying it out there.

"His contribution has been very valuable and we hope there's a bit more in his batting tomorrow," Whatmore added.

Opposite number Eric Simons said South Africa had hoped to bowl Sri Lanka out for under 250 after putting them in.

He said the bowlers, with the exception of skipper Shaun Pollock, had failed to find a consistent line and length.

"It's notable that Shaun was most successful by sticking to the game plan.

"He was able to dry up the runs by hitting the right areas and he picked up two wickets and had the catch dropped as well.

"We tended to lose the plot a bit too quickly and get frustrated."

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South Africa: Herschelle Gibbs, Graeme Smith, Gary Kirsten, Jacques Kallis, Neil McKenzie, Ashwell Prince, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock (captain), Andrew Hall, Steve Elworthy, Makhaya Ntini.

Sri Lanka: Marvan Atapattu (captain), Jehan Mubarak, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Russel Arnold, Hashan Tillakaratne, Hasantha Fernando, Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando, Chamila Gamage, Muttiah Muralitharan.