Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews led from the front in the second Test at the Riverside on Sunday as his side avoided the embarrassment of another defeat by England inside three days. But despite Mathews's 80 as Sri Lanka followed on, England were eyeing a series-clinching win.
At the close of the third day, Sri Lanka were 309 for five - still 88 runs behind England's first innings 498 for nine declared, which featured Moeen Ali's Test-best 155 not out.
Mathews's fourth-wicket second-innings stand of 82 - Sri Lanka's first fifty partnership of the series - with opener Kaushal Silva (60) kept England at bay for much of Sunday's play.
Dinesh Chandimal (54 not out) and Milinda Siriwardana (35 not out) built on that platform with an unbroken partnership of 87 that took Sri Lanka to stumps.
If nothing else, Sri Lanka had at least stopped the rot after becoming the first side since New Zealand in England back in 1958 to be bowled out for under 120 in three successive Test innings following their 101 first time around in this match.
Sri Lanka totalled just 91 and 119 during a crushing innings and 88-run defeat in the first of this three-Test series at Headingley last week.
Sunday's second innings saw the talented Kusal Mendis make a brisk 26 before he was caught behind off a James Anderson delivery that nipped away. Lahiru Thirimanne made 13 before off-spinner Ali bowled him with a classic delivery that turned past the left-hander's outside edge as he pushed forward.
Silva's leg-glance off fast bowler Steven Finn, his sixth boundary, saw him to a 111-ball fifty.
Mathews then clipped Stuart Broad through mid-wicket for four and cut him to the point rope, before his slogged six off Ali brought up Sri Lanka's 150.
Ali beat the advancing Mathews, then on 36, only for wicket-keeper Jonny Bairstow to miss the stumping chance.
Mathews went on to complete a 63-ball fifty, featuring 30 runs in boundaries. Finn ended an entertaining stand, however, when his bouncer surprised Silva, whose skyed pull into Bairstow's gloves ended nearly four hours of resistance.
-- England 1st Innings 498-9 dec (M Ali 155 no, A Hales 83, J Root 80; N Pradeep 4-107)
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Sri Lanka 1st Innings (overnight: 91-8)
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D. Karunaratne b Anderson 9
K. Silva c Bairstow b Broad 13
K. Mendis c Anderson b Woakes 35
D. Chandimal c Cook b Anderson 4
A. Mathews c Bairstow b Woakes 3
L. Thirimanne c Compton b Anderson 19
M. Siriwardana c Bairstow b Woakes 0
R. Herath c Anderson b Broad 12
S. Eranga c Root b Broad 2
S. Lakmal c Bairstow b Broad 0
N. Pradeep not out 2
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Extras: (lb1, nb1) 2
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Total: (all out, 43.3 overs, 201 mins) 101
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Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Karunaratne), 2-44 (Silva), 3-53 (Chandimal), 4-58 (Mathews), 5-67 (Mendis), 6-67 (Siriwardana), 7-88 (Herath), 8-90 (Eranga), 9-93 (Lakmal), 10-101 (Thirimanne)
Bowling: Anderson 12.3-2-36-3; Broad 13-2-40-4 (1nb); Woakes 7-4-9-3; Finn 7-3-15-0; Ali 4-4-0-0
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Sri Lanka 2nd Innings (following-on)
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D. Karunaratne c Root b Woakes 26
K. Silva c Bairstow b Finn 60
K. Mendis c Bairstow b Anderson 26
L. Thirimanne b Ali 13
A. Mathews c Bairstow b Anderson 80
D. Chandimal not out 54
M. Siriwardana not out 35
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Extras: (lb9, w1, nb5) 15
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Total: (5 wkts, 84 overs, 364 mins) 309
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