England assistant coach Paul Farbrace was impressed with the discipline shown by his bowlers
By Matt Somerford
England Assistant Coach Paul Farbrace reflected on a good day's work after his bowlers were forced to graft for their six wickets on the third day of the first Investec Test against Sri Lanka.
Kumar Sangakkara's maiden Lord's Test ton kept the home side at bay for the majority before a hard-working display was rewarded in the evening session.
Sri Lanka had confidently gone beyond the follow-on target of 376 with four wickets down, before England hit back with three wickets after tea.
Sangakkara was one of those - a highly-prized first Test scalp for Moeen Ali - as Sri Lanka reached the close on 413 for seven.
That represented a still sizeable lead of 160 runs and, with a night to recharge the batteries of their bowlers, provide England with belief they can secure a significant first-innings lead tomorrow.
"I think it has been a really good day for us,"Farbrace told ecb.co.uk.
"I think the bowlers have run in and hit the deck hard. There isn't a great deal of response for the seam bowlers but I think for all of them to run in and bowl as consistently as they have done is fantastic for us.
"We're in there saying we've had a good day. We've stuck to our task really well and I thought Moeen showed that he's got real high-class promise.
"For him to get Sanga out today was a real bonus wicket for him. I think we've had a good day and we really stuck at it well."
Sri Lanka lost three for 28 at one stage during the final session - a relative clatter of wickets in a game so far dominated by bat.
Moeen found grip in the surface to finally outfox Sangakkara, who edged behind to Matt Prior attempting to cut for 147.
Liam Plunkett and Chris Jordan then produced fiery late spells for reward.
Plunkett removed Prasanna Jayawardene when Ian Bell held a super reaction catch at leg slip before Jordan nicked off Nuwan Kulasekara with a beauty that tracked down the slope.
"Belly's catch at the end was a magnificent catch and I think that sums up our day," Farbrace said.
"It was a real hang-in-there day, keep fighting, keep working and I think that has been the pattern of the day.
"There has been no moaning or complaining from the boys, they got stuck in and that's exactly what you want.
"It would have been easy to let the game get away on such an unresponsive pitch, but the boys kept going.
"Liam's spell at the end there summed up the whole bowling performance with a nine or 10 overs spell and clocking up early 90s.
"The bowlers have backed up the batting performance - and they got their rewards tonight by taking a couple of wickets."
England will now look to mop up the Sri Lanka tail early in the morning before attempting to set up the game with the bat.
Farbrace indicated the intention would be to try and press on as quickly as possible and "take the game on".
"Ideally you'd want them in the first 10 minutes," he said.
"We know that may take some time and the way the game has gone it may take us an hour.
"The key thing is we then bat well and start our second innings well and then think about moving the game forward.
"The key is to take the game on and if we can do that we give ourselves a great chance of setting something up for the last day."