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Graeme Swann ensured Sri Lanka were dismissed early and for fewer than 300 © AFP
England's openers, Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, put on their highest opening stand of 2012 to reduce their first-innings deficit against Sri Lanka to less than 200 with all ten wickets still standing. In a slow second session, the pair avoided any major scares to reach 83 without loss at tea.
Strauss moved through the 20s and 30s that have been his downfall so often recently, while Cook's leave was in full working order as England set off in pursuit of Sri Lanka's 275. There were a couple of sharp chances to Lahiru Thirimanne at short leg but, over all, the England batsmen displayed comfort - if not mastery - against spin for the first time in five Test matches in Asia this winter.
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Sri Lanka were dismissed for 275 on the second morning on an increasingly problematic surface at the P Sara Oval. England have reached 300 only once in Asia this winter and the sight of a crabby surface of widening cracks, turn for the spinners and a suffocating lack of pace made their task in improving that figure a demanding one.
England had 15 minutes to survive before lunch and they achieved it, edgily. Andrew Strauss, under more pressure than at any time in his tenure as England captain, as his long standing run of poor form coincides with a run of Test defeats, sneaked a fortunate boundary third ball as he pushed suspiciously at Suranga Lakmal and edged wide of the slips for four. He was also inches away from dragging on Dhammika Prasad in the last over before lunch as an attempted cut shot was betrayed by a lack of bounce.
Sri Lanka, 238 for 6 overnight, scored only 37 runs from 21 overs for the loss of their last four wickets on a somnolent morning as England's bowlers again summoned a disciplined performance. Graeme Swann, who is enjoying a late flurry of form as England's winter programme nears its end, took 3 for 4 in 6.1 overs as his offspin found plenty of bite.
England were relieved to head to the dressing room for what they hoped, for once, would be a prolonged blast of air-con. Their habit of weighing players at each end of the day revealed that Matt Prior had lost 3.5 kgs keeping wicket during the first day because of his exertions in such demanding conditions. It was no wonder that Sri Lanka's captain, Mahela Jayawardene, who had made such a consummate, yet exhausting, century on the first day, temporarily took himself out of first slip, where his concentration might have faltered, and stood at mid-off.
Angelo Mathews, 41 not out overnight, was Swann's most important victim. Mathews made uncharacteristically restrained progress before he was out for 57, from 157 balls, clipping a slower offbreak to short midwicket. Suraj Randiv's attempts to break the shackles resulted in a catch by Kevin Pietersen, pedalling back at deep mid-on, and when Swann bowled Lakmal second ball, for nought, with one that turned through the gate, he finished with 4-75.
The cracks on the pitch seemed to have widened overnight. The Sri Lankans remarked they had never seen a Test pitch at the P Sara Oval looking so dry so early in a match. That batting would become increasingly difficult on this surface had become an accepted truth.
England, even allowing for another admirable, stout-hearted bowling performance on the opening day, knew that they needed wickets quickly. A first-day display that should have put them on top did not entirely feel like that, especially in view of their batting turmoil on Asian pitches all winter.
With the new ball only nine overs old, Sri Lanka were vulnerable, but before England could engage in some speedy clearance work, they had the Mathews to deal with. Mathews, playing as a specialist batsman, had been restrained in making 41 the previous evening, an out-of-character approach that involved imagining that he might smite the ball a great distance and then suppressing his natural instincts at the last moment.
When Mathews brought up his half-century by striking James Anderson through midwicket, it had taken him 142 balls, a feat of self-denial on a pitch that insisted upon it. Finn, on his 23rd birthday, added to his unease when he scuttled one through his defences. When Mathews did fall, for 57, it was to a suspicious clip to short midwicket, deceived by a slower delivery from Swann.