Veteran opener Dimuth Karunaratne, making a comeback after missing the West Indies tour due to injury, was unbeaten on 37 and Sri Lanka was 93 for two at lunch on the first day of the first cricket test against South Africa on Thursday.
The 30-year-old, playing his 50th test, hit three elegant fours and pulled Dale Steyn for six after Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat.
Kusal Mendis was unbeaten on 19 and during his innings completed 2,000 test runs with a swept boundary off left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj.
Suranga Lakmal is leading the Sri Lankan side in the absence of Dinesh Chandimal, who pleaded guilty for conduct that is contrary to spirit of cricket and will miss the two-test series along with coach Chandika Hathurusingha.
Sri Lanka refused to take the field on the third morning of the St. Lucia test against the West Indies last month in protest of a ball-tampering charge against Chandimal.
Veteran paceman Dale Steyn is making a comeback after injury. The 35-year-old Steyn needs three more wickets to overtake Shaun Pollock's tally of 421 wickets to become the highest wicket-taker for South Africa.