By Matt Somerford
England sprung to life after tea as they sought to snatch an unlikely victory in the first Investec Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's.
Alastair Cook's side appeared likely to have to settle for a tame draw after managing just three of the 10 final-day wickets they required before the final break.
But James Anderson struck twice in the 15 minutes after tea, most significantly removing Sri Lanka's star man Kumar Sangakkara when he chopped on for 61.
With the ball starting to reverse-swing and over 25 overs remaining, hopes of victory were suddenly revived.
Match Scorecard / Live ball-by-ball commentary
Live Images / Follow ECB_cricket on Twitter
Evening Session
4.34pm - Anderson and Stuart Broad are going hard at the Sri Lankans who are in survival mode. They would have hardly expected to be in this position when they finished their tea 30 minutes ago.
4.24pm - REVIEW! - Prasanna Jayawardene survives by the skin of his teeth. Anderson is on fire. Umpire Billy Bowden turns down an lbw appeal and when England review Hawkeye suggests the ball was going to hit the outside of leg stump - so 'Umpire's Call' saves the wicketkeeper. There's plenty of reverse-swing now.
4.12pm - WICKET! Thirimanne c Jordan b Anderson 2; SL 170/5 - Anderson grabs a second and England have a sniff now. Lahiru Thirimanne nicks off to Chris Jordan who holds a comfortable catch at second slip.
Prasanna Jayawardena will be returning due to a finger injury suffered in the current Test Match and will be... http://t.co/MAOetn63Ux
— Sri Lanka Cricket (@OfficialSLC) June 16, 2014
4.07pm - WICKET! Sangakkara b Anderson 61; SL 169/4 - Anderson comes around the wicket and Sangakkara chops on. There is life in this yet. It was all a bit light-hearted in the previous two overs after tea, but now things get serious again.
4.06pm - Have we just had a first glimpse of Moeen Ali's doosra? If so, it wasn't a great first outing as he bowls a full toss at chest height. Sangakkara doesn't know what to do with it - he could have got unlucky and picked out a fielder there.
4.04pm - Alastair Cook has opted for an unlikely field after tea. There's a close-in ring of fielders on the off-side around Kumar Sangakkara. It works in that James Anderson bowls a maiden and the point fielder made a couple of stops.
Afternoon Session
3.41pm - TEA! SL 164/3 - Sangakkara 59, Thirimanne 0 - England's hopes of pushing for victory are growing slim due to Sangakkara. The veteran left-hander bats through a session in which England managed to prise out two wickets. There are 34 overs to be bowled in the final session of the match, during which time England will need to take seven wickets.
3.39pm - Moeen Ali is handed the ball. Sangakkara greets him by punching a back-foot stroke through midwicket for his first boundary in 102 balls.
3.35pm - WICKET! Jayawardene c Prior b Anderson 18; SL 159/3 - Anderson breaks up Sri Lanka's big two. Jayawardene presses forward in defence thinking the ball would move down the slope, but it continues straight on and catches the edge. There are 36 overs left in the match.
3.25pm - The short approach to Jayawardene is just starting to wear thin as he guides Plunkett away for a pair of boundaries.
At the wonderful Lord's, the @HomeOfCricket: pic.twitter.com/MWOROTdVG5
— Stuart Appleby (@Stuart_Appleby) June 16, 2014
2.57pm - FIFTY! Sangakkara (137b 3x4 0x6) - Sangakkara turns Jordan away to deep square-leg for a couple to reach the 46th Test fifty of his career. He is a master batsman and is guiding his team towards safety following his first-innings hundred.
2.51pm - Plunkett is attacking Jayawardene with some short stuff. England are mixing it up to try and grab a breakthrough. Getting past these two could open things up.
The crowd are starting to get behind Plunkett too and the over ends with Jayawardene turning off his hip and short of Bell at leg-slip.
2.40pm - Sangakkara pushes Plunkett for two through cover. That's his first runs for 31 balls.
2.37pm - England have a bit of hope now as Jordan is getting the ball to move late. Mahela Jayawardene's first scoring shot is a leg-glance for four, although it split Prior and Ian Bell at leg-slip.
WICKET! The ball takes the faintest knick off Silva's glove, and Prior makes the good catch: #EngvSL#SkyCricketpic.twitter.com/HAxYOisKtn
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 16, 2014
2.30pm - REVIEW & WICKET! Silva c Prior b Jordan 57; SL 123/2 - Silva gloves a Jordan short ball down the leg side and Matt Prior makes the ground well to take the catch. Umpire Billy Bowden turns down the England appeals so they send it upstairs where the replay shows clearly that Silva did get a glove on the ball. That reverse-swing is becoming slightly more evident too.
2.26pm - Jordan bowls another maiden. He beats Sangakkara's edge from the final delivery with the ball tailing slightly away.
2.22pm - We can rule out at least one result out for certain. Sri Lanka won't win. That was always unlikely at the start of play, but with four of the past six overs being maidens they are certainly not looking to accelerate after that solid first session.
2.14pm - FIFTY! Silva (93b 6x4 0x6) - Silva gets his second half-century of the match by pushing Chris Jordan wide of point for a single. A gutsy innings from the little opener after he was peppered by short bowling from Liam Plunkett this morning.
2.13pm - Broad has bowled three successive maidens. There is the merest hint of reverse-swing at the moment. The ball tailed in slightly to Silva in that previous over.
Alastair Cook throws the ball to Joe Root too...and it's another maiden.
2.02pm - No joy so far after lunch. Sangakkara and Kaushal Silva have been able to get back into the groove without any fuss at all. There's not much life in the wicket.
1.50pm - Kumar Sangakkara eases Moeen Ali away to move Sri Lanka to 100. Stuart Broad's first over after the break is then a tad wayward and Sangakkara clips away a couple of twos.
Morning Session
1.03pm - LUNCH! SL 99/1; Silva 44, Sangakkara 34 - England's bowlers probed away and got that early wicket through Broad, but since then Silva and Sangakkara have stood firm. England have 61 overs left to take the nine wickets they need.
12.58pm - Sangakkara gets a thick edge playing forward to Moeen. The fall falls just short of Bell at gully to draw 'oohs' and 'arghs' from the England fielders.
12.52pm - Now even Moeen is finding extra bounce to Silva. He keeps the ball down and to safety as Sri Lanka's batsmen look to get through to lunch.
12.42pm - You have to feel for Silva a little bit. He is getting peppered by Plunkett at the moment. It is venomous fast bowling and entertaining stuff to watch. So far, the Sri Lankan opener has stood up to it - albeit by taking a couple of hefty blows. How long can he keep his calm though?
OUCH! Silva takes a blow to the head trying to duck out of a Plunkett delivery. Sri Lanka 77-1. #SkyCricket#EngvSLpic.twitter.com/kwzfokDeTQ
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 16, 2014
12.31pm - Silva has been pinned flush on the helmet by a Plunkett bouncer. The ball cannoned back through mid-off such was the impact. The ball didn't get up as much as the little opener might of expected as Plunkett has decided to target him with the short ball from around the wicket.
12.26pm - Sangakkara effortlessly plays Plunkett away for three to bring up the 50-run stand with Silva from 70 balls.
12.19pm - A double change. Liam Plunkett replaces Anderson at the Pavilion End after his opening spell of 8-3-21-0. Moeen Ali has also taken over from Jordan to inject spin into the day for the first time.
12.14pm - Jordan finds Sangakkara's inside edge as he attempts a horizontal stroke, but the ball flies harmlessly for four. Jordan has been expensive thus far, conceding 22 runs in his three overs.
12.09pm - Anderson bowling around the wicket to Sangakkara and he beats the bat again with the second ball after the drinks break. So close.
12.02pm - Sri Lanka go past 50 as Silva finds the boundary from successive Jordan deliveries - with a cover-drive and a pull shot - and it is time for a drink.
11.52am - Chris Jordan is swung into the attack from the Nursery End. He's bowled from the other end for the majority of the match, but will now be looking to bring the ball back in to Sangakkara down the slope and attack the stumps. That is the end Shaminda Eranga slid a couple through Robson and Ian Bell yesterday. First ball is short and wide though and punched away for three.
Congratulations to @StuartBroad8 as he becomes the fourth player to take 50 wickets at the Home of Cricket #EngvSL: pic.twitter.com/UIupuLy5Jd
— Lord's Ground (@HomeOfCricket) June 16, 2014
11.39am - Anderson beats the bat of Kumar Sangakkara in defence. The left-hander glances the final ball to the fine-leg rope. It probably goes without saying, but his wicket is crucial and getting him early is probably England's best chance. This is a key period.
11.29am - WICKET! Karunaratne c Robson b Broad 16; SL 25/1 - There's the first wicket of the day. Karunaratne gets slightly tucked up by a back-of-length Broad delivery and he inside-edges onto his thigh before the ball pops up for Sam Robson at short-leg.
Decent start for Sri Lanka, who have moved on to 25-0. #EngvSL#SkyCricketpic.twitter.com/wD046Jwv8d
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 16, 2014
11.19am - At the end of the fifth over Anderson finds Karunaratne's edge, but the opener angles his bat down and the ball falls safely short of the slips. Sri Lanka are 17 for none.
11.08am - The lights are on and there is plenty of cloud cover so it is not unexpected that both Anderson and Stuart Broad are finding early swing. With so many runs to play with, Alastair Cook is employing an attacking field - three slips and a gully. That costs a boundary at the end of Broad's first over as Kaushal Silva drives through the vacant cover region.
11.03am - A typically probing first over from James Anderson with the new ball. Dimuth Karunaratne got a thick edge to the second ball, but it flew high between the slips and gully for four.
Pre-Play News
10.55am - Gary Ballance said last night that the wicket was still good to bat onand that he felt like he could play his shots on it as he stepped up the gears to reach his century in the final over before stumps.
Grabbing early wickets will likely be important for England while they will have an eye on that Sri Lanka tail, which looks long. In the first innings none of their bottom five reached double figures.
Chaminda Vaas rings the five minute bell https://t.co/pOex2sZ3B7
— Lord's Ground (@HomeOfCricket) June 16, 2014
10.50am - It is worth remembering that large chases are possible here at Lord's - most significantly Middlesex's successful pursuit of 472 against Yorkshire in the LV= County Championship earlier this season. They did that three down too!
10.45am - England have set Sri Lanka a victory target of 390 in 90 overs. England need 10 wickets to go 1-0 up in the series while the Sri Lankans would have to score at 4.33 runs an over all day. That would appear an unlikely prospect - although not a ridiculous one on this wicket - so the tourists may prefer to sit in for a draw.
10.40am - Confirmation has come through that England have declared.
10.30am - No official word as yet on whether skipper Alastair Cook has declared overnight. What I can tell you, though, is that England have been out going through fielding drills since 10.15am while the Sri Lankans have been batting in the nets on the Nursery Ground.
Being a part of today's #EngvSL finale is as easy as this... #LoveLords@ecb_crickethttps://t.co/UpeSZHAxcS
— Lord's Ground (@HomeOfCricket) June 16, 2014