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COLOMBO: Skipper Mahela Jayawardene cracked his second century in consecutive matches to pull Sri Lanka out of trouble in the second and final Test against England in Colombo on Tuesday.
Jayawardene followed his match-winning 180 in the first Test in Galle with a classy 105 after seamer James Anderson had reduced the hosts to 30 for three within the first hour at P. Sara Oval.
Thilan Samaraweera (54) added 124 for the fourth wicket with his captain as Sri Lanka recovered to post 238 for six by stumps on the opening day in a remarkable re-run of the Galle Test.
Sri Lanka had slumped to 15-3 in the first four overs of the match at Galle, before Jayawardene and Samaraweera rescued the hosts by putting on a half-century partnership.
A sell-out crowd of 5,000, mostly travelling English fans, applauded warmly when Jayawardene reached his 31st Test century with a single off left-arm spinner Samit Patel after tea.
The 34-year-old struck 11 fours and a six in his eighth hundred against England before he was trapped leg-before by off-spinner Graeme Swann with a sharp, turning delivery.
England, whose 75-run defeat at Galle followed a 3-0 rout by Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates earlier in the year, need a win to level the series and retain their number one ranking.
Andrew Strauss' men will slip to second spot behind South Africa if they lose or draw the match.
Angelo Mathews, returning to the side after missing the first Test with a calf injury, was unbeaten on 41 after adding 62 runs for the fifth wicket with his skipper.
Samaraweera said the sluggish pitch hampered shot-making.
“This is not a typical Oval wicket which had true bounce,” he said.
“This time the ball is not coming on to the bat, it's not easy to score runs.
“We have probably lost one extra wicket, but hopefully we can get to 300 and put England under pressure.”
Anderson struck in his third over when he forced Tillakaratne Dilshan to edge a catch to wicket-keeper Matt Prior after the previous two balls had been driven for boundaries.
Kumar Sangakkara was dismissed first ball for the second match in a row when he was snapped up by Strauss in the slips, the England captain taking the catch at second attempt.
Jayawardene once again prevented a hat-trick, as he had done in Galle, and went on to master the England attack on a dry wicket that is expected to crumble in the later stages of the match.
Lahiru Thirimanne padded up to a straight ball from Anderson and was given out leg-before by umpire Bruce Oxenford, a decision upheld by the third umpire after the batsman asked for a review.
Steven Finn, who joined Anderson and Tim Bresnan in a three-man seam attack, said England will be satisfied by the day's play.
“We have had a pretty good day,” said Finn, who turns 23 on Wednesday.
“It was a day of attrition. Jayawardene played really well and kept us at bay for a fair while, but it's pretty even at the end of the day.
“You have to wait for batsmen to make mistakes. I think every bowler did that. We've played the patient game and we have to do it again tomorrow.”
Finn said Anderson's bowling stood out after a hard day's work in the field.
“Jimmy is an exceptional bowler and he showed that again with three early wickets and being consistent throughout the day,” he said.
“He is someone that I've looked up to and hopefully I can keep learning from him.”
