England Under-19s 220 and 40 for 0 need a further 345 to beat South Africa U19s 295 and 310 (van Biljon 58, Rowles 52, Sylvester 3-33)
South Africa set England a daunting target of 386, but openers Ben Dawkins and Jacob Blades were unbeaten on 14 and 22 respectively.
The visitors batted with painstaking discipline after resuming on 97 for 3: there were 21.2 overs before the first wicket fell and in all England bowled 33 maidens.
Rowles reached his half-century when he drove Ali Farooq for four, but the breakthough England urgently needed came when he was caught at first slip by Dawkins, after he edged James Minto. Ralphie Albert then ran out Vihan Pretorius for 8 with a direct hit from mid on, leaving the visitors on 184 for 5 at lunch.
If the game was in the balance at that point, van Biljon played a disciplined innings, reaching 50 off 137 balls with a swept four off Will Bennison and taking the lead past 300 before Sylvester got him lbw. Two balls later he got Michael Kruiskamp, also leg before, for a duck, but Paul James and Ntando Soni hung around to make it 253 for 7 at tea.
It felt like the game was drifting away from England and James hit the first ball of the session, from Manny Lumsden, for four.
Paul James also injected some impetus before he went for 38, attempting to reverse sweep Farooq and getting caught by Dawkins at first slip.
Soni went for 20 to a steepling catch by Harry Wallace after he miscued Bennison and the innings concluded when Farooq bowled JJ Basson for 15. That left England with an hour to bat through before the close, with Dawkins and Blades surviving to set up a potentially fascinating finale.
