Monday at Newlands was a plodding progression of wickets and not enough runs to tilt the balance away from the expected outcome

The visitors trail only by 23 runs but South Africa are a wicket away from having a crack at the lower order

Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada struck once each in the morning session as Pakistan still trail by 109 runs

From last Sunday's nail-biter in Centurion to this week's slow grind at Newlands, South Africa's Test series against Pakistan has gone from edge-of-the-seat drama to a foregone conclusion

Shan Masood hit a century whereas Babar Azam fell for 81 as the two batters put on 205 for the opening wicket

South Africa earned a 421-run lead in the first innings and put Pakistan in to bat again at Newlands

Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Agha Salman were dismissed in the session

The visitors were 64/3 at Stumps on Day 2 after South Africa posted a mammoth total of 615

Five of the nine 600-plus totals in Tests since 2021 have been against Pakistan

The hosts were 566/7 at Tea on Day 2 of the second Test against Pakistan,