Vernon Philander snared his second successive haul of six wickets and New Zealand captain Ross Taylor broke his arm as South Africa took complete control after four days of the third Test in Wellington.
The Proteas were 0-75 without loss at the close, a lead of 274 after New Zealand narrowly avoided following on after being dismissed for 275 with Taylor unable to bat.
Captain Graeme Smith was unbeaten on 34 and Alviro Petersen 32 not out as the Proteas, who made 9-474 in the first innings, rattled up their runs in just 15 overs as they look to set the hosts a total to chase on the final day.
Playing in his seventh Test, the 26-year-old Philander became the second-fastest bowler to claim 50 Test wickets and finished with figures of 6-81.
The Capetonian, who took 6-44 in the second Test in Hamilton, now has 21 wickets in the series.
Australian paceman Charlie Turner, who played in the first-ever Test match against England in 1887, took just six Tests to reach the mark, while England fast bowler Tom Richardson also got to the milestone in seven games after debuting in 1893.
But it was the wicketless Morne Morkel who inflicted the biggest blow, breaking Taylor’s arm with a 138km/h delivery that the Black Caps skipper took flush on his lower forearm in the session after lunch.
After treatment on the field he lasted one more ball before retiring hurt on 18 and was taken to hospital where an X-ray confirmed the break.
Assistant coach Trent Woodhill said the loss of Taylor was keenly felt by the side.
“When your captain gets injured and has to come off it’s devastating for the team and things change with that,” he said.
Woodhill did not rule Taylor out from playing a part on the final day if the situation warranted it.
“If it’s not going to damage his hand then he will probably bat, but that comes down to balls rather than overs.
“He’s a resilient character and if he thought that was best for the team he would.”
New Zealand resumed the day on 0-65 and after a hostile opening spell from Dale Steyn and Morkel, Philander make the breakthrough to dismiss Daniel Flynn.
Steyn, who saw JP Duminy put down three catches off his bowling, got the key wicket of Brendon McCullum and Philander struck again to trap Martin Guptill lbw just before lunch.
After losing Taylor to injury and Dean Brownlie after lunch Steyn started a collapse, with New Zealand losing their last five wickets for 33 runs.
They needed Mark Gillespie to edge two successive balls to the boundary to get the Black Caps past the follow on, much to the relief of the Basin Reserve crowd, before he fell to Philander the very next ball.
South Africa lead the three-Test series 1-0.
