An unbeaten century from Joe Root and a blistering 58 from Ben Stokes ensured England ended day two of the third Test in Johannesburg in the driving seat.
The tourists took the final three wickets on the second morning with South Africa adding 46 to their overnight score of 267-7, all out for 313.
England had slipped to 91-4 before Root and Stokes counter-attacked to add 111 for the fifth wicket; bad light eventually closing out the day with England 238-5.
At the start of play England faced resistance from Chris Morris and Kagiso Rabada before both lower order batsmen fell in quick succession.
Stuart Broad found some movement outside off stump to catch the edge of Morris (28), caught by Bairstow, before Anderson repeated the dose on Rabada (24) in the next over, the England wicketkeeper taking his sixth catch of the innings.
Hardus Viljoen, on debut, and Morne Morkel then became the tenth and 11th South African batsmen to reach double figures, adding a crucial 32 for the last wicket.
Morkel (12) was the last man to fall, the left-hander edging Ben Stokes’ first ball of the morning after James Anderson had been withdrawn from the attack by Aleem Dar for getting his third warning for running on the pitch.
The wicket marked Stokes’ 50th in his 22nd Test, to go with his 1,000 runs, the second quickest player to do that double for England after Sir Ian Botham (21 Tests).
England’s reply faltered early on as Alex Hales fell to Rabada for one before Viljoen became the 20th person to take a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket, captain Alastair Cook caught down the leg side for 18.
The South African pace attack had the momentum and with all four of the bowlers achieving speeds of over 90mph, Nick Compton and Root faced a tricky period.
Both batsmen looked troubled after the lunch interval with Compton being dropped in the slips by AB de Villiers.
That chance brought out the attacking side of the Middlesex right-hander, the England number three moving to 26 before Dean Elgar held on to an edge off Rabada.
James Taylor continued the England attack but fell to Morkel via the inside edge and pad, Temba Bavuma taking a fine catch at short leg to dismiss the Nottinghamshire man for seven.
Stokes, the second Test double centurion, joined Root and from 91-4 the pair set about quickly switching the momentum to England.
Root remained busy at one end, despite suffering from cramp towards the end of the day, whilst Stokes channelled his knock in Cape Town to smash a further nine fours and one six.
The England all-rounder had made 58 before Morkel took his second wicket, Stokes failing to deal with a short ball and providing an easy return catch for the bowler.
At that point England still trailed by 111 on 202-5 but Root then took on the attacking role, punching Morris through the covers to go to his ninth hundred off just 126 balls.
He ended the second day on 106* having put on an unbeaten 36 with Jonny Bairstow (4*), England closing on 238-5, trailing by 75.
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