Ravi revives faint England hopes

Debutant Ravi Bopara perished but England stemmed the flow of wickets in the afternoon session as Sri Lanka pushed for victory at Asgiriya.

Bopara struck 34 before being trapped leg before by left-arm spinner Sanath Jayasuriya 10 minutes after lunch.

The 22-year-old's dismissal culminated a 49-run stand with Ian Bell as England progressed to 169 for six midway through the middle session.

Essex's Bopara edged between wicketkeeper and slip off Dilhara Fernando to get off the mark but played a composed innings, including a stellar over when he struck a trio of fours off Muttiah Muralitharan thanks to a cover drive, square cut and leg glance.

But a probing over from Jayasuriya, on his final day of Test cricket, left England deeper in trouble.

Having had one lbw shout declined, and after finding the edge with another delivery, one went on with the arm to hit Bopara in front of off-stump.

Bell, top scorer in the first innings with 83, once again batted with great fluency to move into the 40s while Matt Prior spent more than an hour at the crease.

The middle-order's primary target was to eat up time after Chaminda Vaas celebrated his 100th Test with a devastating new-ball spell.

Left-armer Vaas, who dismissed Alastair Cook before the close on the fourth evening, sent back overnight pair Michael Vaughan and James Anderson on Wednesday morning.

Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood then perished to Dilhara Fernando to leave the tourists five down at lunch.