Close England 27 for 1 trail Sri Lanka 555 for 8 dec (Atapattu 185, Jayawardene 107, de Silva 88) by 528 runs
scorecard

How often is it the case? So long as Sri Lanka were batting, this Lord's wicket played like a pudding, and England's bowlers gave the impression of luckless toilers. But as soon as it was Sri Lanka's turn to bowl, the pitch revealed some extremely indigestible lumps. Left to face eight dicey overs after Sanath Jayasuriya had declared on 555 for 8, England gulped their way, spoonful by spoonful, to 27 for 1. The casualty, Marcus Trescothick, was snaffled at first slip by Sanath Jayasuriya off Nuwan Zoysa moments after a ball from the same bowler had burst through the top of the pitch and taken a thick edge to the third-man boundary. England require another 329 to avoid the follow-on. As Nasser Hussain himself admitted, they will have to bat very carefully indeed.

England, after a lacklustre first day, were always destined for a hard day's work, but Matthew Hoggard's first over - two leg-stump half-volleys, two midwicket boundaries - did not exactly lift the spirits. To their credit, they rallied round, despite a shocking half-hour in the slip cordon, and restricted Sri Lanka to just 241 runs in 79 overs today, considerably less than their commanding overnight position (314 for 3) and depth of batting would have warranted.

Marvan Atapattu, who was reprieved on 159 by Andrew Flintoff at second slip, picked up where he had left off on the first day, and it was a surprise to all when he took the bait and top-edged Dominic Cork to Trescothick at fine leg, five minutes before lunch (407 for 4). Atapattu went for 185, and so missed the chance to emulate Javed Miandad with his sixth double-century. Cork, who extracted a modicum of life from the track, was the pick of England's bowlers.

After lunch, Russel Arnold and Aravinda de Silva made stately progress, adding 85 for the fifth wicket. de Silva, who had twice been reprieved by Flintoff, first via a no-ball (which Hussain dropped for good measure), then at second slip off Andrew Caddick, was savage on anything wide, and seemed destined for his 20th Test century, on the ground where he had made his debut in 1984. Cork though had other plans, and induced a gloved edge down the leg side as de Silva (88) attempted to sway inside a short one (492 for 6).

By this stage Arnold, the least vaunted of Sri Lanka's batting line-up, had already gone. After reaching a deserved half-century, he slashed at Hoggard and was caught on the third-man boundary by Trescothick (492 for 5).

At this point the innings stalled. Zoysa lifted the tempo with a perky 28 that included consecutive legside sixes off Hoggard, but Jayasuriya finally grew weary of an exasperating display from Hashan Tillekeratne, who faced a yawn-worthy 74 balls for his 17 runs. If England, at the time, interpreted it as hesitance before the declaration, then Vaas and Zoysa soon reminded them of the huge task ahead.

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