Durban - England ground South Africa down with half-centuries by Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow to set the home team an almost unreachable target of 416 to win the first Test on Tuesday.
Root made 73 and Bairstow hit a rapid, attacking 79 from 76 balls to take England to a second-innings total of 326 all out soon after lunch on the fourth day at Kingsmead.
With victory highly unlikely for South Africa, the top-ranked team in Tests needs to survive over four sessions to save the game.
That appeared to be unlikely on a much tougher pitch to bat on, and after England bowled South Africa's struggling batting lineup out for only 214 in the first innings.