Gunaratne hit two match-winning fifties in the recent T20 series in Australia, and had also struck a maiden ODI hundred in South Africa earlier in the month. Dickwella, meanwhile, has been effective at the top of the order in the shorter formats, but had also had some first-class form behind him in recent domestic outings.

Among those omitted from the squad are Kusal Perera, who has been in poor form in both international and domestic cricket over the past few months, and opener Kaushal Silva.

Dimuth Karunaratne, the other opener, remains in the squad, however. This is thanks in part to his 212 for Sri Lanka A against England Lions over the weekend. He had also hit Sri Lanka’s only half-century in their most recent Test at the Wanderers.

The selectors sprang no major surprises on the bowling front. Malinda Pushpakumara, whom SLC had already announced would be part of the squad, is the only first-time addition. Lahiru Kumara, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep and Vikum Sanjaya – all right-armers – make up the seam-bowling options, while Rangana Herath leads a strong spin contingent featuring Dilruwan Perera and Lakshan Sandakan in addition to Pushpakumara. Fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera has not played competitive cricket since late last year, and, as such, is unavailable.

Gunaratne’s inclusion in this squad was largely expected. He had prospered in his first Test series in Zimbabwe over October and November, and had only left the squad to make way for the return of Angelo Mathews, who had been injured for that series. With Mathews out of the side again for this series, Gunaratne is a potential replacement at no. 5, capable of providing a slow-medium bowling option for captain Herath.

Dickwella, 23, had to beat out a late challenge from Ron Chandraguptha to secure the second opener’s spot, but was also the frontrunner for this position. He had mixed results in his previous stint in the Test team in 2014, playing as wicketkeeper and batting down the order – he averages 20.57 after seven Test innings – but has since expanded his game. He was the Player of the Series in the 2-1 T20 victory over South Africa in January, and had also scored 522 runs at an average of 52.20 in Sri Lanka’s first-class competition before he left for that tour.

The Test series begins on March 7 in Galle.

Sri Lanka squad: Rangana Herath (capt), Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Dimuth Karunaratne, Niroshan Dickwella, Upul Tharanga, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Asela Gunaratne, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara, Nuwan Pradeep, Vikum Sanjaya, Dilruwan Perera, Lakshan Sandakan, Malinda Pushpakumara.

De Silva made 43 not out as Sri Lanka struggled to 181 for seven – still 105 runs behind South Africa’s first innings total of 286 – before bad light ended play.

South African new ball bowlers Vernon Philander and Kyle Abbott put the Sri Lankan batsmen under pressure in seam-friendly conditions, with the first three wickets falling for 22 runs.

It looked as though a full-scale collapse was possible but Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews made a solid 39 before De Silva came out to bat at number seven and played an impressive innings, with assistance from Dinesh Chandimal and Rangana Herath.

It was not a wholly impressive performance by the South African bowlers. Philander and Abbott both bowled well, taking three for 35 and two for 49 respectively, but rising star Kagiso Rabada had an off day. De Silva, playing in only his sixth Test, showed some of the quality that has already brought him centuries against Australia and Zimbabwe, although he survived a caught and bowled chance to left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj when he was on 27. When play ended he had faced 69 balls and hit five fours.

The day started well for Sri Lanka when fast bowler Suranga Lakmal, playing in his 32nd Test, took his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket, finishing with five for 63, as South Africa lost their last four wickets for 19 runs.

The previous Test best for Lakmal, 29, was four for 78 against Pakistan in Dubai in January 2014.

Philander was caught at deep square leg when he top-edged a pull against Nuwan Pradeep in the fifth over of the morning after South Africa had resumed at 267 for six. Maharaj edged an away swinger to wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal to give Lakmal his fifth wicket and Abbott was run out after a mix-up with Quinton de Kock.

But the hosts hit back almost immediately as Philander and Abbott ripped into their batting. Both gained appreciable movement through the air and off the pitch as three wickets fell in the first eight overs before captain Mathews joined a patient Kaushal Silva to add 39 runs for the fourth wicket.

Silva was the only one of the top four in the Sri Lankan batting order to show a solid defensive technique in tricky conditions.

But he made only 16 off 108 balls before he was leg before wicket to Philander, who produced a ball that cut back after a succession of deliveries that left the batsman.

Kusal Perera, Upul Tharanga and Dinesh Chandimal all hit half-centuries before play was called off in mid-afternoon with Sri Lanka on 212 for five in their second innings after leading by 84 runs on the first innings.

No fewer than seven Sri Lankan batsmen made scores of 50 or more in the team’s only warm-up match ahead of the first Test against South Africa, starting in Port Elizabeth on Monday.

Perera and Tharanga were promoted to open the batting in the second innings and made 51 and 50 respectively before retiring. It completed an unusual feat by the tourists with four different opening batsmen all retiring after hitting half-centuries. Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva made 71 and 80 respectively in the first innings and did not bat in the second innings.

Chandimal hit a quick 60 off 52 balls, while captain Angelo Mathews followed a first innings duck by making 37 in the second innings before play was called off. Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva were the other players to make half-centuries in the first innings, leaving the tour selectors probably having to leave out at least one in-form batsman when they pick the Test side.

The 115 that Silva compiled on the penultimate day of this campaign was as valuable as it was unexpected. Sri Lanka began the day one wicket down, still trailing by two runs. The morning session would be critical. Within ten overs, another wicket had fallen, the sharp-eyed Peter Nevill pouncing on Dimuth Karunaratne’s lifted foot like an Olympic walking judge. Nevill’s stumping was legal, if a little provocative, and Sri Lanka still had much work to do.

The trophy is theirs, but to complete a historic whitewash Sri Lanka had to set Australia a target that gave their bowlers a chance. When two more wickets fell before lunch, Australia were dreaming of a quick demolition of the lower order and a face-saving chase. And yet by stumps they had still not dismissed Sri Lanka, who were 312 for 8 – Dhananjaya de Silva was on 44 and Suranga Lakmal yet to score – and leading by 288.

Once upon a time, Australia scored more than that in the fourth innings of a Test in Asia. Emphasis on the once. The only time that has happened – win, lose or draw – was in 2006 in Fatullah, when they made 307 in a successful chase. But that was against Bangladesh, with an Australia team full of champions, and even then they made hard work of it, losing seven wickets along the way.

A more relevant comparison, perhaps, concerns their chances of batting out a draw. In the first Test of this series, Australia survived 88 overs in the fourth innings, failing to avoid defeat but at least proving that crease occupation can be achieved. If victory is out of reach on day five in Colombo, maybe Australia should all imagine themselves hamstrung, like Steve O’Keefe in that game. Forget running, just block it out.

Whatever the case, their victory chances were harmed mostly by Silva. Short in stature, little Silva produced an innings of platinum value to Sri Lanka. His defence was sound early, and he gradually became more expansive with his strokeplay. He was strong square of the wicket, punishing Australia’s spinners if they dropped short or gave him width. His work was all the more impressive given he had stitches in his hand after being injured while fielding earlier in the game.

Silva’s century came from his 251st delivery with a cover drive for four off the spin of Adam Voges, and the emotion was evident from the way Silva ripped off his helmet and roared in celebration. Another failure in this innings and his place in the side might have been in jeopardy. Instead, he registered the third hundred of his Test career, and his first for more than a year.

Eventually, just like in the women’s quadruple sculls last week, Jon Holland claimed Silva. On 115, Silva was lured forward by Holland’s flight, beaten by the dip and his edge was snapped up by Steven Smith at slip. His innings was over, but he had done enough. In any case, wickets had to fall or a declaration arrive from Angelo Mathews in order to make the final day interesting. After Silva fell, Rangana Herath was taken at slip off Lyon, leaving two wickets in hand.

Silva had received assistance throughout the innings from a series of team-mates who did what he has not all series – got out in double figures. Dinesh Chandimal reached 43 before he was lbw to Lyon from around the wicket, everyone on field seemingly surprised that Australia’s review was upheld, that Lyon’s delivery had pitched in line and straightened the required amount.

Lyon finished the day with four wickets. He made the only breakthrough of the middle session when Mathews, on 26, tried to sweep but succeeded only in top-edging a catch that lobbed up to Smith at slip. But the middle session was quiet by comparison with the first.

The most fascinating moment was Nevill’s stumping of Karunaratne. Lyon’s delivery turned past the edge and rested in the gloves of Nevill. That, you might expect, would be that. But Nevill was alert to Karunaratne’s tendency to lift his foot. He didn’t take his eyes off the batsman’s leg, and whipped the bails off at just the right time when Karunaratne momentarily lifted his foot off the ground.

The Laws of Cricket state that the ball is dead “when it is finally settled in the hands of the wicketkeeper or of the bowler”, but “whether the ball is finally settled or not is a matter for the umpire alone to decide”. Law 23 also states that “the ball shall be considered to be dead when it is clear to the bowler’s end umpire that the fielding side and both batsmen at the wicket have ceased to regard it as in play”.

If the batsman had regarded the ball as no longer in play, Nevill clearly had not, for he watched assiduously for Karunaratne’s movement. Like a motorist given a parking fine for staying one minute too long, Karunaratne was entitled to feel frustrated that a tiny lapse had cost him. But the lapse was his own, and if an eagle-eyed inspector had caught him out, Karunaratne had nobody to blame but himself.

Nevill even tried the ploy again in Lyon’s next over, but on this occasion Silva’s foot stayed grounded. It was a busy morning for the third umpire: Silva survived an Australian lbw review, and again on his own review when given out lbw, but there was no such positive outcome for Sri Lanka when Kusal Perera was given not out to an appeal for caught behind off Holland.

Perera was attempting a reverse sweep and the ball clearly sailed close to his top edge before bouncing off his body and lobbing up for Nevill to run forward and take. But with no Hot Spot or Snicko available to the TV umpire, Richard Kettleborough, could he overturn the decision? Kettleborough decided that a combination of audio and raw vision was enough – he felt the ball had hit the bat, and Perera was out.

The session ended with a more conventional dismissal, Kusal Mendis lbw to a fast, straight ball from Mitchell Starc that was not reviewed. At 98 for 4, Sri Lanka still had plenty to do. Fortunately for them, Silva was starting to look polished.

The upcoming three-Test series against Sri Lanka is no different. For already Mitchell Starc, who will spearhead the Australian bowling line-up in the three-Test series beginning at Pallekele on Tuesday has spoken of targeting Angelo Mathews, the Sri Lanka captain.

In a team that is under transition and short of experience Mathews is the stand-out batsman for Sri Lanka in the Test series with 4140 runs at an average of 48.70 and seven centuries. He is the best by way of figures or otherwise for the nearest batsman to him in the team is his deputy Dinesh Chandimal with 2007 (avg. 44.50) and six Test hundreds.

So it’s no surprise that getting Mathews’ wicket would be a crucial factor in Australia’s campaign to win the Test series. Former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding when asked whom the all-conquering West Indies side led by Clive Lloyd would target during a series he came out with the answer that it was the opposing captain.

Holding explained that if the captain’s wicket is taken cheaply he will be worried more about his batting form and place in the team rather than worry about the opposition for which he will have less time.

Australian teams seem to have adhered to this belief that a sure way to unsettle a rival is to heap pressure on their captain. So Starc targeting Mathews is nothing new.

“It would be (a big wicket) and look, he’s under pressure,” Starc told Cricket Australia. “He’d be under pressure after the English tour and as a captain he’ll have to go through that pressure and perform as well. And that’s something that Steve (Smith, Australia’s Test captain) for us does really well.

“He’s been fantastic as a captain and performed from the front as well, so no doubt we’ll put a lot of pressure on Angelo to firstly perform and for him he’s got to lead as captain.

“He’ll be a big wicket for us along with (vice-captain Dinesh) Chandimal, and, for their bowlers, (veteran left-arm spinner Rangana) Herath is the most experienced and one that we’ll try and counter.”

In the bowling line-up Sri Lanka will bank heavily on Herath’s experience of playing in 70 Tests and capturing over 300 wickets in the absence of regular bowlers Dhammika Prasad and Dushmantha Chameera who are both injured.

In the batting Australia is top heavy with vice-captain David Warner and captain Steve Smith scoring a total of 30 Test hundreds between them and the rest Adam Voges, Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja accounting for a dozen centuries.

What Sri Lanka can come up with is a total of 18 Test centuries from their four top batsmen Mathews, Chandimal and openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva. Although Australia doesn’t have a bowler of Herath’s class in their line-up but nevertheless have some outstanding match winners in off-spinner Nathan Lyon who is the leading wicket-taker in the side with 195 wickets and new ball bowlers Mitchell Starc with 91 and Jos Hazelwood with 70.

A lot depends on how the Lankan openers tackle the Australian new ball attack of Starc, Hazlewood and Jackson Bird and see them off so that the middle order can play their natural game. In England, the Sri Lankan top order was swept away by Anderson, Broad and Finn in the first three innings of the series before they managed to resurrect themselves and come up with challenging totals.

Karunaratne and Silva put on a century opening stand in the third and final Test at Lord’s and Sri Lanka will be hoping they will be able to extend that run to the Australian series as well.

It will help them clear their heads and concentrate on doing well out there in the middle with bat and ball. The visitors are a young team which has lost some stalwarts in the past two years and it has clearly affected them. However, there is some raw talent in this side which could spark to life any moment.

Ireland will miss the services of Leicestershire wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien who is injured and Stuart Thompson, who will miss both matches for personal reasons.

O’Brien is set to be out of action for four to six weeks after sustaining a grade-two tear of his left calf. O’Brien suffered his injury while batting against Warwickshire last week.

John Anderson and Max Sorensen have been called into the Ireland squad to replace them.

In Niall O’Brien’s absence Ireland will depend a lot on William Porterfield, Ed Joyce and Kevin O’Brien. These three players form the back-bone of the Irish cricket team. Joyce and Kevin O’Brien have been in particularly good form for their respective teams in the NatWest T20 Blast as well as the Royal London One-Day Cup.

Sri Lanka have dropped all-rounder Milinda Siriwardana for the ODIs. Kaushal Silva, Dilruwan Perera, Dimuth Karunaratne and Niroshan Dickwella will also head back home along with Rangana Herath who has retired from the 50-over game.

Farveez Maharoof, Danushka Gunathilaka, Suraj Randiv, Seekkuge Prasanna and Upul Tharanga will join the side. Expect a lot of these players to feature against Ireland as they look to adjust to the prevailing conditions in this part of the world. Angelo Matthews, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Perera and Lahiru Thirimanne will be the key players for the Lankans.

These two sides have faced off just twice in this format and Sri Lanka have won both fixtures quite comfortably. Sri Lanka have a very good record against the ICC’s associate members and will look to keep their status intact against the hosts.

Cricket Ireland chairman Ross McCullum said that though the fan build up to the Sri Lanka series had been positive, commercial success was not the biggest priority for the series, but rather getting an opportunity to improve Ireland’s ranking on the 12-team ODI table.

“Hopefully, we’ll get good weather, good cricket and we’ll have a good day. The support for Ireland has always been pretty positive and pretty good, so hopefully that won’t change,” said McCullum.

“I know there has been a lot of support from the Asian community in Dublin, so hopefully we’ll get a large crowd there. For us, it’s always good to play in front of a good crowd, because it certainly adds to the atmosphere and adds to Cricket Ireland’s coffers, no doubt.”

Amongst the Sri Lankans who have achieved that feat are Sidath Wettimuny, Duleep Mendis, Amal Silva, Mahela Jayawardene (twice), Marvan Atapattu, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara.

Diminutive right-handed opening bat Kaushal Silva is no exception. He has his sights firmly set on scoring a hundred at cricket’s most hallowed grounds when Sri Lanka take on England in the third and final Test beginning on June 9.

“I’ve played four Tests in England now, scored three fifties but no hundred yet. I’m hoping to get set and go for the big one – to a hundred in the next,” said Silva who gained a lot of confidence from his knock of 60 in the second innings of the second Test at Durham.

“As a team we’ve finished this match off on a good note. Taking that mindset into the next game is important. Also, personally, I’m disappointed about the way I got out.”

The last occasion Silva played at Lord’s in 2014 he scored twin fifties (63 and 57) but he hopes to make it into three figures this time around.

It was Silva who set the tone for the Lankan batting revival at Durham with his patient knock that occupied 145 balls. Both he and his opening partner Dimuth Karunaratne were able to dent the England new ball bowlers Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad so that they were did not pose the same to the batsmen who followed.

“An opener’s role is especially important here, because our success has knock-on effects for the team,” said Silva.

“If Dimuth and I bat a good number of overs, the ball gets old and the others find it easier. Its England’s opening bowlers who are the real wicket-taking threats, and the pressure they apply is immense,” he said.

“In the last innings Dimuth and I batted 17 overs, and that made it easier for the rest of the team. If we can play like that, with positive intent, I think we can be successful.”

Following Silva’s half-century skipper Angelo Mathews scored an attractive 80, Dinesh Chandimal a magnificent 126 and Rangana Herath a plucky half-century that enabled Sri Lanka to total 475 and avoid the ignominy of successive innings defeats.

“We all knew we had it in us to bat like that – it’s just that we weren’t able to in the first three innings,” said Silva. “Now a few individuals have scored runs. They’ve got confidence. It’s only after you’ve done it a few times that it becomes easier for you. But we need to replicate that by training with that intensity, then taking it into the next match. The first innings of the next Test is hugely important, because that will set the tone for us.”

Explaining the effects it has on a bowler when you showing positive intent, Silva said, “If you attack any bowler, they will be put on the back foot by that. If you keep leaving the ball, these bowlers are so skillful that there is still a chance of getting out.

“Rotating the strike is crucial. When we score runs there is a little pressure on them as well. Here, the difference is that the good ball is what you should expect – that is what is normal. The skills of their bowlers are great. So to counter that, we have to try and bat positively.

“The other thing is to get them to bowl three or four over spells. With any fast bowler, if you have them bowling 15-20 overs, anyone will tire and drop their performances a bit. Among the seven batsmen we have we should be able to do that. Whoever is batting well that day should be able to bat through and ensure that happens.”

It was not so long ago that Silva who began his Test career promisingly with two centuries and eight half-centuries in his first 19 Tests lost his place following a poor run of scores against India and West Indies where he managed one fifty in nine innings. He was left out of the tour to New Zealand, but fought his way back into the team for the England tour with some heavy scoring in the domestic Premier league tournament.

“I knew that though I was dropped, I could find a way back into the team by scoring runs. I had only done poorly for one series. I believed that I could get back,” said Silva. “In the domestic tournament, I scored about 600 runs in four games – including two double centuries. If you score runs, you can have a place in the team.”

Silva said he did not do anything big to his batting to earn a recall but it was all to do with the mental aspect.

“When you look at first-class cricket and domestic cricket there’s a huge difference. The main reason is that bowlers at this level deliver a lot of very good balls. There are fewer loose balls and the bowlers are all good,” said Silva.

“As a batsman what you should try is to score runs off every scoring opportunity. There’s also a skill in identifying who is not bowling as well that day and scoring off him. The biggest adjustment is mental. It’s about being patient and waiting for the bad ball, and learning to see through tough periods.”

Silva was of the opinion that it was not the bowlers who were at fault but the batsmen for Sri Lanka being 0-2 down in the three-match series.

“Our bowlers have actually done well in the last two games. There were a few mistakes, but on the whole, they’ve been very good.”

“They didn’t get support from the batsmen,” said Silva. “We can’t aim too high, but if we can get to 300 or 250 at least, we can put some pressure on them, because our bowlers are doing well.”

He compared his team’s fielding to the batting and said, “I don’t think we are a terrible fielding side. Some days we field well and others we don’t. That happens with the batting as well. Consistency is what is missing.

“Maybe lack of anticipation is an issue. But we can’t have those excuses. If a bowler is doing well on a flat wicket and a catch gets dropped, that’s really tough on them. As a policy we don’t blame cricketers for dropping catches, because we all train hard. Anyone can miss a catch.”

Sri Lanka had gone through a horrendous run in the ongoing Test series being bowled out for totals less than 120 in their first three innings. But after being asked to follow-on for the second successive time in the series and facing the prospect of another innings thrashing, the Lankan batsmen put their heads down to make everyone sit up and take notice of them by producing a noteworthy display in the second innings at Durham.

Although the batting revival came a shade too late for Mathews’ men to save the series it has somewhat brought back the confidence that was missing in the dressing room and on the field. Despite Sri Lanka’s tremendous fightback England won the second Test by nine wickets to take a winning 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

“Especially in the first innings, not scoring more than 100 was very disappointing. We talked about bringing back the fight – the Sri Lankan fight that we’ve not had in the last couple of weeks,” said Mathews.

“The boys showed a lot of resilience after the last five weeks, to come back and score 475 runs was very pleasing. The way (Dinesh) Chandimal batted and also Kaushal Silva and Rangana Herath – they batted well and fought really hard. The English bowlers bowled really well.”

Reflecting on what inspired them to come out of their shell Mathews said, ““We’ve talked about everything possible to get everything back. It’s just the character we talked about. We talked about our character and the fight. We’ve been talking a lot about it, but unfortunately we didn’t show it on the field.

“I thought we started showing it in the second innings while we were batting. We had a brilliant first day. We caught all our catches. But unfortunately we started off day two by letting Moeen (Ali) and Chris Woakes off the hook. Then we had a really bad day towards the end of the second day – almost getting bowled out. We had to fight really hard. All the batters worked really hard in the nets every single day before the start. We worked hard with the coaches and that was pleasing.”

Mathews said the way Herath batted the other batsmen could take a leaf out of his notebook.

“Rangana’s become a proper no. 8 for us over the past one-and-a-half years,” said Mathews.

He’s been scoring and hanging in there. If I recall a couple of years ago at Headingley he batted with me and got 49. He’s been giving his best with the bat and ball for us over the last couple of years. Every day he’s been trying to get better. Hopefully he can continue that.”

Mathews said that he was disappointed with the batting in the first innings because the wicket was much better than they got at Headingley.

“That’s why I was very disappointed. It wasn’t a 100-run wicket. There was much less grass than Headingley. It was not spinning much. It had a little bit of lateral movement, but there were no demons in the wicket. We could have got at least 250 on that wicket to give ourselves a chance in this game.”

Following Sri Lanka’s magnificent fight back England captain and coach both expressed the same views and said that Sri Lanka cannot be taken for granted.

“It’s hard for the Sri Lankan batters in one sense, but they are very good players, and most of the time on flat wickets you have to work very hard against them,” said England captain Alastair Cook.

“Credit to Sri Lanka, the way they batted in the second innings, and it shows how hard you have to work for Test match wins. It was only two years ago that they beat us at Headingley, so we shouldn’t take anything for granted.”

England coach Trevor Bayliss said: “Any time you can win two Tests in a row and win a series, wrapping it up after two matches, is a fantastic effort. The wicket flattened out and the Sri Lankans showed some of the fight that they’re quite capable of. They’ve got some very good players in their team. Yes, they’ve got some young players but we certainly can’t take it for granted in the third match.”

England are still firm favourites to win the Test and take a winning 2-0 lead in the three-match series but Sri Lanka finally showed some fight after being forced to follow-on 397 runs behind on the first innings.

Sri Lanka who were dismissed for 101 in their first innings are still 88 runs adrift of avoiding an innings defeat and they have another five wickets in hand to avoid that ignominy in successive Tests. They lost the first inside three days by an innings and 88 runs at Leeds.

A lot will depend on the sixth wicket pair Dinesh Chandimal and Milinda Siriwardana who have so far added 87 off 125 balls to deny England victory inside three days.

Chandimal was unbeaten on 54 scored off 98 balls with five fours and Siriwardana was on 35 not out scored off 57 balls with six fours at the close.

England who took the second new ball towards the end of the day will be looking to wrap up the Lankan innings as quickly as possible tomorrow unless the batsmen put up stern resistance as they have done today.

Leading Sri Lanka’s fight back was opening bat Kaushal Silva who played a workmanlike innings for 60 off 145 balls (6 fours).

Taking the cue from Silva was skipper Angelo Mathews who finally showed pleasing form to score an attractive 80 off 105 balls with nine fours and a six.

Chandimal and Siriwardana ensured the good work done by Silva and Mathews did not go waste by batting out the final session in brilliant sunshine.

Sri Lanka batsmen were more committed to their strokes and most impressive was their running between the wickets that prevented the English bowlers from maintaining a consistent line.

Silva and Mathews held the Lankan innings together after they had lost three wickets for 100 with a partnership of 82 off 130 balls – Sri Lanka’s first half-century stand of the series.

Mathews survived a catch at slip to Joe Root off Jimmy Anderson at nought and then a stumping chance to Jonny Bairstow off Moeen Ali at 36 to play a captain’s knock. He in fact had two reviews against him off the first four balls he faced.

Root signaled immediately that he had not taken the catch cleanly off Mathews’ bat but the umpires still went to the TV umpire to check and replays showed that Root was right.

Silva was out 18 minutes after tea when Steven Finn forced him to top edge a pull to Bairstow.

In comparison to Silva’s obdurate innings, Mathews attacked and took the fight to the England bowlers especially the off breaks of Moeen Ali off whom he scored 46 of his 80 runs that included one six and six fours.

The pitch did not assist the bowlers as much as it had done at Leeds and conditions for batting was not all that difficult provided the batsmen had the patience to pick and choose which balls to play and leave.

The last time England enforced a follow-on in successive Test matches was against Bangladesh in 2010.

England did not waste any time getting the last two Sri Lankan wickets in 17 minutes with Broad and Anderson picking up one apiece to finish with seven wickets between them.

Lahiru Thirimanne was the last man out for 19 after displaying some character in his batting hanging around for 80 balls. Sri Lanka dismissed for 101 in their first innings represented the first time a team had been bowled out for under 120 runs in three consecutive innings in a Test since 1958.

Of the six wickets Sri Lanka took during the day four were due to outstanding catches.

Skipper Angelo Mathews’ blinder of a catch at slip to send back Alex Hales for 83 was the top of the lot. The England opener offered a full blooded cut off left-arm spinner Milinda Siriwardana and as the ball flew off the edge Mathews dived to his right and held the ball one-handed.

Sri Lanka’s brilliant catching compensated for the Lankan bowling which was too friendly on the slow pitch where the odd ball kept low.

Dimuth Karunaratne picked up a fine catch at slip to send back Alastair Cook for 15, denying the England captain his milestone of becoming the first Englishman to reach 10,000 Test runs. Cook started the day requiring 20 to reach the landmark but fell short by five when he was dismissed for 15.

Unless Sri Lanka put up a good first innings total, and make England to bat again in the second innings Cook may well have to wait until the start of the third and final Test at Lord’s on June 9 to get to the milestone. At Leeds, England batted only once and won the Test by an innings to go one-up in the three match series. Suranga Lakmal who replaced the injured Dushmantha Chameera pulled off a stunning catch at deep square leg when Nick Compton offered a full blooded pull with his score on nine.

The fourth catch of the day was held by Lahiru Thirimanne at short cover when James Vince drove at Siriwardana and the fielder diving to his right pulled off a ripper.

Sri Lankan bowling in these conditions looked harmless but their persistency paid rich dividends as they managed to prize out six England wickets.

Joe Root was the other England batsman to miss out on a hundred when he popped up a simple catch to Kaushal Silva at cover with his score on 80.

Hales and Root added 96 and Root also shared another half century stand with Vince. But each time England looked like running away with the game Sri Lanka managed to pull back and pluck a wicket.

Nuwan Pradeep was the pick of the Lankan bowlers finishing with three wickets for 69 including that of Jonny Bairstow the man of the match at Leeds with a career best 140. Bairstow fell to the second new ball attempting to slash at Pradeep and giving Dinesh Chandimal a straight forward catch after scoring 48 off 57 balls.

With Moeen Ali who was unbeaten on 28 at the close, Bairstow added 70 for the sixth wicket. Chris Woakes who replaced the injured Ben Stokes was not out eight.

Like Cook, left-arm spinner Rangana Herath was also left seeking his 300th Test wicket. Herath created some problems for the batsmen with his guile and flight but England managed to overcame it and deprive him of the milestone. Herath is shy of one wicket from becoming the third Sri Lankan bowler to get to the mark.

Siriwardana considered to be the man with the golden arm justified his selection ahead of Dasun Shanaka with two wickets – both to excellent catches by Mathews and Thirimanne.

In the gloomy morning it looked as if Sri Lanka had got it all wrong when they left out Shanaka for the left-arm spin of Siriwardana, but later as the day progressed and the wicket started to get slow and keep low it seemed a good choice.

It seems the Lankans whose fielding had dropped drastically in recent times have worked hard in this area and the results are showing on the field.

The overcast skies gave away to bright sunshine during the final session of play. The forecast for the next two days is for good weather.