Sri Lanka 188 and 442 for 8 beat England 281 and 261 (Bell 74, Prior 63, Vaas 3-56) by 88 runs
sl won by 2 runs
Sri Lanka 105 for 2 (Vandort 50*) Jayawardene 43*) trail England 351 (Vaughan 87, Cook 81, Prior 79, Collingwood 52, Muralitharan 5-116) by 246 runs
Muttiah Muralitharan moved level with Shane Warne on 708 wickets as he bowled Sri Lanka back into the first Test at Kandy. He claimed the first four England batsmen to fall on the second day as they lost 5 for 78 and drew level with Warne when he removed Ravi Bopara. But he was forced to wait for his crowning moment as rain, which had threatened during the morning, moved across the ground and wiped out the final three hours of play.
Welegedera ahead of the 3rd test match, Galle Sri Lanka www.hilalscricket.com
In the build-up to this Test, playing in Sri Lanka has been described as one of the game's toughest challenges and England responded with an outstanding bowling performance on the opening day at Kandy. Matthew Hoggard took four wickets in 25 balls during the morning session as Sri Lanka hit the depths of 42 for 5, then Monty Panesar chipped in with three after a partial resurrection from Kumar Sangakkara and Prasanna Jayawardene who added 106 for the sixth wicket to lift them to 188. But England couldn't finish with their full card intact after facing 17 overs. Alastair Cook went third ball, planting his front foot across the line to Chaminda Vaas, using his 100 Tests worth of experience with the new ball as Hoggard did so successfully. Michael Vaughan could have gone, too, but Asad Rauf gave him the benefit of very little doubt against Lasith Malinga. There were three overs from Muttiah Muralitharan; that's a battle that will unfold on Sunday. (Description courtesy Cricinfo) www.hilalscricket.com
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