In reply, Sri Lanka was all out for 336 shortly before the close of play with Silva’s 85 being the highlight of their innings. England’s Jack Leach and Rory Burns were both unbeaten on nought, safely negotiating the one over they had to face before stumps were drawn.

Sri Lanka, trailing 1-0 in the three-test series after last week’s loss in Galle, added 171 for their last four wickets to take a crucial lead, which had looked unlikely at one stage.After resuming on 26-1, they lost night watchman Malinda Pushpakumara in the third over to a poor shot.

That dismissal brought opener Dimuth Karunaratne and Dhananjaya de Silva together, and the duo built a stand of 96 through some smart batting with England’s bowlers looking bereft of ideas as the partnership grew.All-rounder Ben Stokes then stole the show with two brilliant efforts in the field to help England break through Sri Lanka’s resilience with a brace of wickets shortly before the lunch break.

Stokes sprinted from gully when de Silva prodded to the off side, picking the ball up with one hand and completing a run out with one stump to aim at to dismiss Karunaratne for 63.Stokes was soon in the thick of things once more when he took a sharp one-handed catch at slip to dismiss Kusal Mendis for one off left-arm spinner Jack Leach.

Leg-spinner Adil Rashid reaped rewards for his probing line and length when he induced an edge from de Silva, who made 59, with wicketkeeper Ben Foakes completing a smart catch.Former captain Angelo Mathews fell in a similar fashion for 20 to Rashid with Foakes holding onto the catch at the second attempt.

Sri Lanka were tottering at 165-6 at that stage and needed a contribution from their lower order to stop England from gaining a sizeable advantage.Niroshan Dickwella (26) and Silva proved up to the task with a 46-run stand for the seventh wicket before England captain Joe Root made the breakthrough by dismissing the former leg before.

Silva continued to frustrate England’s bowlers in the final session, adding 56 for the ninth wicket with Akila Dananjaya (31) and another 28 with stand-in skipper Suranga Lakmal, who remained on 15 not out.The 29-year-old Silva was, however, guilty of not grounding his bat at the non-striker’s end while going for a second run, which resulted in the penalty that could prove important if the match turns out to be a tight one.

He was the final wicket to fall for Sri Lanka, handing Rashid his third wicket. Leach also picked up three wickets for the touring side, whose seamers failed to take a single wicket in the innings - the first time for England since 1974.

England 1st innings

 Rory Burns       c Dhananjaya de Silva b Akila Dananjaya               43

 Keaton Jennings  c Niroshan Dickwella b Suranga Lakmal                  1

 Ben Stokes       lbw Dilruwan Perera                                   19

 Joe Root         b Malinda Pushpakumara                                14

 Jos Buttler      c Dimuth Karunaratne b Malinda Pushpakumara           63

 Moeen Ali        lbw Malinda Pushpakumara                              10

 Ben Foakes       c Dhananjaya de Silva b Dilruwan Perera               19

 Sam Curran       c Dimuth Karunaratne b Dilruwan Perera                64

 Adil Rashid      lbw Dilruwan Perera                                   31

 Jack Leach       b Akila Dananjaya                                      7

 James Anderson   Not Out                                                7

 Extras           4b 3lb 0nb 5pen 0w                                    12

 Total            (75.4 overs)                                 290 all out

Fall of Wickets : 1-7 Jennings, 2-44 Stokes, 3-65 Root, 4-89 Burns, 5-134 Ali, 6-165 Foakes, 7-171 Buttler, 8-216 Rashid, 9-225 Leach, 10-285 Curran

 Bowling                 Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex

 Suranga Lakmal          12   1  44   1  3.67

 Dilruwan Perera       24.4   5  61   4  2.47

 Malinda Pushpakumara    23   4  89   3  3.87

 Dhananjaya de Silva      2   0   4   0  2.00

 Akila Dananjaya         14   1  80   2  5.71

 Sri Lanka  1st innings

 Dimuth Karunaratne    Run Out Ben Stokes                   63

 Kaushal Silva         b Jack Leach                          6

 Malinda Pushpakumara  c Rory Burns b Moeen Ali              4

 Dhananjaya de Silva   c Ben Foakes b Adil Rashid           59

 Kusal Mendis          c Ben Stokes b Jack Leach             1

 Angelo Mathews        c Ben Foakes b Adil Rashid           20

 Roshen Silva          c Moeen Ali b Adil Rashid            85

 Niroshan Dickwella    lbw Joe Root                         25

 Dilruwan Perera       lbw Jack Leach                       15

 Akila Dananjaya       lbw Moeen Ali                        31

 Suranga Lakmal        Not Out                              15

 Extras                6b 6lb 0nb 0pen 0w                   12

 Total                 (103.0 overs)               336 all out

Fall of Wickets : 1-22 Silva, 2-31 Pushpakumara, 3-127 Karunaratne, 4-136 Mendis, 5-146 de Silva, 6-165 Mathews, 7-211 Dickwella, 8-252 Perera, 9-308 Perera, 10-336 Silva

 Bowling         Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex

 James Anderson  14   2  40   0  2.86

 Sam Curran       4   0  19   0  4.75

 Jack Leach      29   5  70   3  2.41

 Moeen Ali       25   1  85   2  3.40

 Adil Rashid     22   2  75   3  3.41

 Joe Root         8   0  26   1  3.25

 Ben Stokes       1   0   9   0  9.00

England  2nd innings

 Jack Leach  Not Out               0

 Extras      0b 0lb 0nb 0pen 0w    0

 Total       (1.0 overs)         0-0

Bowling          Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex

 Dilruwan Perera   1   1   0   0  0.00