Another fantastic days play has set up in an intriguing final day at Lords. The weather forecast was poor for day 4 with overcast weather and rain threatening to spoil what has been a very good test match.
Bad light delayed the start of play and an hour was lost before the umpires decided it was suitable for play to commence.
Englands bowlers started well with Trueman in particular bowling with pace and swinging the ball late. Jayasuriya was struck on the shoulder by Trueman, but he continued where he left off from Day 3 and patiently chipped away at Englands lead.
Ravi Ratnayake was the first to fall, bowled by a beautiful outswinging yorker from Jimmy Anderson. It would have gotten many better players than him out. Sri Lanka were 331 for 7. They made it to 333 for 7 when lunch was called. Ben Stokes then struck in the first over after lunch. Asantha De Mel nicked an easy catch to Alan Knott and was out without troubling the scorer. Sri Lanka looked like they might not last much longer, but Muttiah Muralitharan came to the crease and batted sensibly with his senior partner. Together, they put on a partnership of 95 and batted for almost 40 overs and 3 hours.
Sydney Barnes finally broke through when he ended Jayasuriya's mammoth knock. He was on 234 when he edged to Stokes who took a good catch at gully. Jayasuriya batted wonderfully for almost 10 and a half hours, facing 441 balls and hitting 22 fours and 3 sixes.
Lasith Malinga managed to get 12 before Barnes trapped him LBW and Sri Lanka were all out for 451, just 26 runs short of the follow on target. It was a fantastic effort by Sri Lanka and they have taken a lot of time out of the game.
Sydney Barnes was the pick of Englands bowlers, finishing with 5 for 90 from 33 overs. Derek Underwood also bowled very well and was unlucky not to take more wickets. He finished with 2 for 63 from 32 overs.
England enforced the follow on and Sri Lanka managed to make it to 13 without loss before bad light ended play for the day (at 617pm).
Tomorrow is the final day and Sri Lanka will need to bat very well to save this game. The wicket is showing signs of damage and the weather is set the same as today (overcast with a chance of rain). Bowling conditions should be excellent for England and Sri Lankas best chance of saving the game is if the weather can shorten the day.
England 1st Innings 677-8 (169.3 Ov)
WR Hammond 170, L Hutton 167, BA Stokes 147, KP Pietersen 131, SL Malinga 4-134, WPUJC Vaas 2-108
Sri Lanka 1st Innings 451-10 (170.2 Ov)
ST Jayasuriya 234, WPUJC Vaas 52, M Muralitharan 40*, SF Barnes 5-90, DL Underwood 2-63
Sri Lanka 2nd Innings 13-0 (6 Ov)
England lead by 213 runs
Sanath Jayasuriya has given Sri Lanka a chance of saving the game in what should be a fascinating final day.
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