England closing in on victory over Sri Lanka

First Test, Emirates Old Trafford (day three of five)

Sri Lanka 236 (Dhananjaya 74; Woakes 3-32) & 204-6 (Mathews 65, K Mendis 56*)

England 358 (Smith 111, Brook 56; A Fernando 4-103)

Sri Lanka are 82 runs ahead

Scorecard

England are moving towards victory over Sri Lanka after an eventful third day of the first Test at Emirates Old Trafford.

The tourists closed on 204-6 in their second innings, only 82 ahead at the end of a Friday that began with England’s Jamie Smith completing his maiden Test century.

Sri Lanka were in danger of imploding when captain Dhananjaya de Silva was out to Matthew Potts. With Dinesh Chandimal having an X-ray on his thumb after being pinned by Mark Wood, the tourists were effectively 95-5 in their second innings, still 27 adrift.

But Angelo Mathews showed some much-needed defiance, dragging Sri Lanka into the lead with 65 in a stand of 78 with Kamindu Mendis.

Crucially, England persuaded the umpires to change the ball and got a replacement that swung, with Potts having chances dropped off both Mathews and Kamindu.

Mathews eventually poked Chris Woakes to Potts at point and though England will have been concerned by Wood leaving the field midway through an over, his replacement Joe Root needed only two balls to induce a wild hack from Milan Rathnayake.

Sri Lanka were at least boosted by the news that Chandimal has avoided a fracture and he returned to move to 20 not out, alongside Kamindu unbeaten on an impressive 56.

Earlier, wicketkeeper Smith’s 111 lifted England to 358 and a first-innings lead of 122.

England take charge on fabulous Friday

For two days, some occasionally high-quality cricket had been hard to enjoy because of the drab conditions. A sunny Friday with a bigger crowd felt like the arrival of a spectacle.

With that in mind, the prospect of Sri Lanka folding was disappointing, especially given the one-sided nature of England’s series against West Indies last month. For some time, a three-day finish seemed the most likely outcome.

Mathews, though, has form in these situations. In 2014 the 37-year-old former captain rescued Sri Lanka from a helpless position at Headingley and engineered one of the most famous victories in their history.

He found a confident partner in Kamindu. The pitch, often uneven, went to sleep. Stand-in England captain Ollie Pope was forced into his hardest thinking of the match. The ball change, 41 overs into the Sri Lanka innings, was the turning point, though England almost missed their chance.

While Woakes accounted for Mathews, he had already been badly missed by Root at slip and Gus Atkinson was slow to move towards Kamindu’s slash to point.

England will remember what happened on this ground during last year’s Ashes Test, when most of the last two days were lost to rain and the match was drawn. Rain is again forecast for the weekend, but they will hope their position is strong enough and the weather kind enough for victory to be achieved.

Sri Lanka resistance ended by ball change

Sri Lanka were awful in the early going, sluggish in the field and loose with the ball as England forged ahead. The tourists carried their sloppiness into their batting and it almost had them beaten before the weekend.

Nishan Madushanka played no shot to be bowled by Woakes in the first over and Kusal Mendis edged one Atkinson nipped away, both men out for ducks.

Dimuth Karunaratne inside-edged the pace of Wood on to his thigh pad and into the hands of Harry Brook before Wood struck the thumb of Chandimal at 88.7mph. Dhananjaya was leg-before trying to pull one Potts got to keep devilishly low.

Mathews spotted the danger of both the attack and the pitch. He used his feet at every opportunity and whipped the ball into the leg side. Left-hander Kamindu was just as positive, pulling Wood for six, while neither man let off-spinner Shoaib Bashir settle.

The ball change had shades of last summer’s fifth Ashes Test, when Australia were left so irked. England’s drops were poor, but Woakes expertly exploited the swing to entrap Mathews.

Both Kamindu and Rathnayake overturned being given lbw to Woakes, though Rathnayake wasted his second chance when he swiped at Root. When Chandimal returned, he at least did not have to deal with Wood, whose right thigh is being assessed overnight.

Smith seals the deal

Smith, 24, has looked instantly at home in Test cricket since he was preferred to Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes. He fell five runs short of a maiden century against West Indies at Edgbaston, but made no mistake this time around.

The Surrey man showed composure to guide England from a potentially troublesome situation on Thursday and resumed on 72, England 259-6 and leading by 23.

He moved towards three figures with gorgeous drives. Smith was happy to give the strike to Atkinson, who had faced more deliveries when their partnership reached 50.

On 98, Smith clipped Rathnayake off his toes to reach his first Test hundred in only his fifth innings. His celebrations were calm and understated, and the class he has shown so far in his short career suggest there will be many more centuries to come.

It could have been the signal for Smith to kick on, but after Atkinson was caught down the leg side off Rathnayake, Smith toe-ended a cut off spinner Prabath Jayasuriya into the gloves of Chandimal.

Potts, with 17, and Wood’s 22 were further valuable lower-order contributions, vindicating England’s decision to replace injured captain Ben Stokes with an extra bowler.

'Dropped chances can't happen' - what they said

Former England captain Michael Vaughan: "England just did what they always do. When Chris Woakes gets the Dukes ball in his hand with helpful conditions, he's as good as anyone in the world.

"It was a very professional performance, dropped catches aside. Those chances should've been taken. Against the better teams, that can't happen."

Ex-Sri Lanka all-rounder Russel Arnold: "Angelo Mathews keeps improving, keeps working on his game and getting fitter. Yes, he's 37 so he has definitely slowed down and he's had his injury troubles.

"But as a batter, his runs are so valuable and his experience counts for so much in this team. He's got his own batting style, it's not exactly what you'd be teaching kids learning the game but it works for him, and he knows his game and what works for him.

"He knows how to build an innings, and put the pressure on the bowlers. He's a class player."