Another day of uncomplaining toil for England's bowlers, in intense heat and humidity, after Nasser Hussain had lost yet another toss, brought its rewards in the final hour.

In that time Ashley Giles and Robert Croft, operating in old-fashioned tandem, took two wickets apiece to stop Sri Lanka in their tracks at a time when it seemed they were digging in for victory.

Sri Lanka finished an absorbing day on 221 for seven with the tailenders Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando together, Croft having taken the invaluable wicket of Mahela Jayawardene for 71 in the penultimate over.

With support from the tail, Jayawardene, who had hit 10 fours and a huge straight six, might well have been able to eke out a respectable total but the heat and tiredness impaired his judgment with the day's end in sight and he edged an attempted square-cut to Alec Stewart.

It was a big wicket at the right time psychologically and may have caused Sanath Jayasuriya and his side to reassess what would be a competitive total.

But after tea, with Giles at one end and Croft at the other, the ball began not only to turn significantly but to do so with steep bounce at times: four wickets fell in 11 overs for 14 runs.

The umpires, Orchard and Asanka de Silva, a former Test player standing in his second match, had a good authoritative day, incidentally, with only two contentious decisions. One brought the third umpire BC Cooray - yes, the Kandy man - into the game when Jayasuriya edged Croft low to slip, where Hussain claimed a catch and ran off to the bowler in celebration. The batsman stood his ground, and the umpires, after conferring, called for the replay which appeared to show the ball bouncing some inches in front of the England captain before he scooped it up.

Darren Croft had Jayasuriya caught midway through the afternoon session, before De Silva and Jayawardene embarked on a partnership of 97 ended only when De Silva played Giles on to his instep and Vaughan caught.