Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene took over from Sanath Jayasuriya as his country's leading run-maker as the hosts pulverised England in the second Test here on Tuesday. Jayawardene made 167 not out and Michael Vandort hit 138 as Sri Lanka, replying to England's first innings total of 351, piled up 379-4 by stumps on the third day at the Sinhalese Sports Club Cricket (SSC).
Sri Lanka go into the fourth day's play leading by 28 runs with six wickets in hand and almost certain to put England under pressure when the tourists bat a second time. England coach Peter Moores said his team had worked hard on an unresponsive wicket and hoped to limit Sri Lanka's advantage when play resumed. "We kept them under three runs an over which is a great effort on a flat wicket," said Moores.
Jayawardene, on 43 overnight, batted the whole day to surpass the recently-retired Jayasuriya's career tally of 6,973 runs and also equalled Aravinda de Silva's Sri Lankan record of 20 Test centuries. The 30-year-old now has 7,030 runs from 92 Tests while Jayasuriya played 110 matches before retiring from the longer format of the game after the first Test in Kandy last week.
Jayawardene shone once again on his favourite hunting ground where he scored 374 against South Africa two years ago during a world record stand of 624 with Kumar Sangakkara (287). The Sri Lankan captain has 2,034 runs from 19 matches at the SSC, the most by any batsman at a single venue, surpassing former England captain Graham Gooch's 2015 runs from 21 Tests at Lord's in London.
Jayawardene, who has hit 13 boundaries and a six, and Vandort put on 227 for the third wicket after coming together in the post-lunch session of the second day with Sri Lanka struggling at 22-2. The pair batted through Tuesday's morning period before left-arm seamer Ryan Sidebottom broke the stand with his fourth delivery with the second new ball an hour after lunch by trapping Vandort leg-before.
Kevin Pietersen was given out similarly on the first day after umpire Daryl Harper declined to call for television replays which showed that Chamara Silva had grassed the ball before holding it.
SCOREBOARD:
-- England 1st innings: 351 (A. Cook 81, M. Vaughan 87, P. Collingwood 52, M. Prior 79, M. Muralitharan 5-116)
-- Sri Lanka 1st innings (overnight 105-2)
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M. Vandort lbw b Sidebottom 138
U. Tharanga c Prior b Sidebottom 10
K. Sangakkara c Prior b Sidebottom 1
M. Jayawardene not out 167
C. Silva c Bopara b Harmison 49
J. Mubarak not out 2
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Extras: (b5, lb6, w1) 12
Total: (for four wickets) 379
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Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Tharanga), 2-22 (Sangakkara), 3-249 (Vandort), 4-377 (Silva).
Bowling: Sidebottom 25-3-72-3 (w1), Broad 25-4-63-0, Harmison 28-8-67-1, Panesar 32-4-111-0, Pietersen 12-0-43-0, Collingwood 1-1-0-0, Bopara 5-2-12-0.
Overs: 128
Toss: England
Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Daryl Harper (AUS)
TV umpire: Gamini Silva (SRI)
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL).
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