With rain forecast for Monday a draw remains the most likely
result, but England has a useful lead of 91 going into the final day.
Jonathan Trott hit 203, with 17 fours from 409 balls and Ian
Bell was 98 not out (one six, 10 fours, 152 balls), after Alastair Cook was out
for 133.
Sri Lanka tried to bowl defensively, with Rangana Herath
bowling 44 overs, including a marathon spell of 21 overs without a rest, to
finish with figures of 1-115.
England, replying to Sri Lanka's 400 all out, resumed on
287-2 when play began at 1330 GMT after rain wiped out the morning session.
In cold, blustery conditions England went on the attack, but
lost Cook early when he slashed at a delivery from Maharoof and was caught
behind by a diving Prasanna Jayawardene.
That ended a partnership of 251 - an England record against
Sri Lanka - and Kevin Pietersen lasted just 11 balls before he was lbw to
Herath for 3.
Pietersen's travails against left-arm spinners continued
when he was hit on the pad by Herath before jabbing his bat on the ball.
He was initially given not out, but Sri Lanka referred the
decision and, after five minutes watching replays, the third umpire, Rod
Tucker, upheld the appeal.
Bell hit the first six of the match when he lofted Herath
over long off and out of the ground and survived to reach the tea interval
after being dropped by Kumar Sangakkara at gully.
Sri Lanka began the evening session knowing that victory was
almost impossible and sought to contain England.
Herath bowled 21 disciplined overs without a rest but an
hour of turgid cricket ensued, as England's reluctance to take risks saw the
run rate drop to two an over at one stage.
Bell cut Thisara Perera through mid-wicket to bring up his
50, from 88 balls, but for a team needing to build a lead to put Sri Lanka
under pressure on the final day England made achingly slow progress.
Yet in the final hour England belatedly accelerated, Bell
reverse sweeping for boundaries in successive overs, while Sri Lanka wasted its
referrals on unsuccessful appeals for catches against first Trott and then Bell.
Trott reached 200 with a single to mid-wicket off
Tillakaratne Dilshan, but Dilshan finally ended Trott's innings when he bowled
him after 513 minutes at the crease.

In the
final over, the meagre crowd thought Bell had reached his century, only for the
umpire to signal byes.