The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Colombo

Michael Vandort scored a classy century Tuesday and shared a 178-run partnership with captain Mahela Jayawardene to take Sri Lanka to 200-2 at lunch on the third day of the second test, trailing England by 151 runs.

Resuming the day unbeaten on 50, Vandort cut sometime offspinner Kevin Pietersen for two runs to reach his fourth test hundred and remained not out on 106 at lunch.

He took advantage of a dropped catch on 15 by Alastair Cook and faced 195 balls and hit 16 fours.

Jayawardene scored 82 runs in the unbeaten partnership that lifted Sri Lanka from the threat of collapse after left-arm seamer Ryan Sidebottom took two wickets to leave Sri Lanka at 22-2 on the second day at Sinhalese Sports Club Ground.

Sidebottom had bowling figures 2-58 at the break. On the second day, offspinner Muttiah Muralitharan took his 62nd five-wicket haul as England was bowled out for 351.

Captain Michael Vaughan (87) and Cook (81) combined for a 133-run partnership for the first wicket after England won the toss and elected to bat first.

Matthew Prior (79) and Paul Collingwood (52) also batted well in the middle order.

Sri Lanka lost opener Upul Tharanga (10) with the total on 20, caught by wicketkeeper Prior off Sidebottom. The pair also combined for the prize wicket of Kumar Sangakkara for 1. Sangakkara made 92 and 152 in the first test, which Sri Lanka won by 88 runs in Kandy last week to lead the three-match series 1-0. His performance earned him top spot on the ICC's batting rankings. Muralitharan had the hosts' best bowling figures with 5-116, while Malinga took 3-78.