First Test, Kandy: Sri Lanka 188 & 442-8d v England 281 & 9-1 (day four, stumps)
| By Oliver Brett |
England need an unlikely 350 for victory on the final day of the first Test after Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara struck 152 to put his team in control.
Dropped by Ian Bell on 98, Sangakkara became the first man in Tests to hit four 150s in as many matches before Sri Lanka finally declared on 422-8.
England lost Alastair Cook early on as they reached stumps on 9-1.
Muttiah Muralitharan, with six first-innings wickets, is likely to be the main danger for England.
In reality, their target will be to bat out the final day to keep the series all-square heading into the second Test in Colombo starting on Sunday.
But they may have to field a team without leading bowler Matthew Hoggard for that match.
The Yorkshire seamer limped out of the attack with back trouble after sending down two overs after lunch and did not re-appear.
Worryingly, Hoggard missed most of last summer's Tests with similar problems.
The day began with Sri Lanka already holding the advantage on 167-2, with Sangakkara on 30 and Mahela Jayawardene yet to score.
With the ball already 52 overs old and the pitch playing well, England's seamers knew they needed some luck to dislodge two of the finest batsmen to wear Sri Lankan whites.
But though James Anderson in particular bowled intelligently, fortune favoured the home team in the early exchanges as a handful of edges just evaded either the stumps or the slips.
Once Sangakkara had raised his own half-century and Jayawardene had hit the single to bring up the fifty partnership, Sri Lanka were already looking ominously strong with a lead fast approaching 150 and eight wickets still in hand.
Michael Vaughan eventually turned to Monty Panesar, but initially the pitch provided little in the way of assistance for the spinner who finished with figures of 3-132.
Both batsmen used the crease well to increase their options and Sangakkara was soon confident enough to skip down the wicket to drive Panesar through the covers for the best shot of the day.
Vaughan initially declined the option of taking the new ball, opting for a few overs of his own spin before lunch.
Jayawardene hit him over the top for four, but there were no other signs of aggression and both batsmen looked hungry for big scores.
Finally, Hoggard returned for one over just before the interval and immediately struck with a loosener angled down the leg-side.
Jayawardene, on 65, got a faint edge and Matt Prior, standing up to the timbers, did well to cling on.
After lunch, the new ball was taken and Sangakkara moved to 95 with a wonderful drive through the covers off Anderson.
But he was suddenly afflicted by nerves and offered Bell the simplest of slip catches off Ryan Sidebottom three runs later.
The unfortunate bowler kicked the crease in anger when the chance was floored.
In the two hours between lunch and tea, 100 runs were added while Panesar took two wickets.
The Northamptonshire left-armer finally struck for the first time in the innings when umpire Asad Rauf upheld an appeal for lbw against Chamara Silva (37).
And an out-of-sorts Jehan Mubarak, who Prior should have stumped on nought, holed out to long-on for nine.
After tea, Sangakkara duly passed 150 on his home ground before fatigue finally set in and he chipped a catch to midwicket off Paul Collingwood.
By then Collingwood had also bowled Prasanna Jayawardene and there was one further cheap wicket for Panesar before the declaration was called.
Cook had fallen in Chaminda Vaas's first over on day one, and history repeated itself when the left-hander played tentatively forward to edge a comfortable catch to first slip.
Vaughan and nightwatchman Anderson somehow survived the remaining four-and-a-half overs but the dismissal had completed a nightmare day for England.
Their batsmen will sleep uneasily knowing the wicket has deteriorated considerably since Muralitharan took a record 710th wicket on Monday.
But Tuesday had belonged to Sangakkara, who has enjoyed an extraordinary run of success since handing over the wicket-keeper's gloves to Jayawardene in July 2006.
In nine Tests since then he has hit 1,529 runs in 14 innings, with two unbeaten double centuries and four centuries, two of those also unbeaten.
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