Close West Indies (9 for 1, Ganga 3*, Sarwan 5*) are still 133 runs behind Sri Lanka (590 for 9 dec, Sangakkara 140, Tillekeratne 105*, Jayawardene 99)
Scorecard

A day which promised much ended up delivering little as Sri Lanka's batsmen failed to display any urgency and so increased West Indies' chance of leaving Galle with a draw.

The turgid morning session produced just 69 runs from 35 overs, and the first half of the afternoon was little better. Only when they had finally overhauled West Indies' first innings did the Sri Lankan batsmen come out of their shells.

Part of the problem was that yesterday's hero, Kumar Sangakkara, was unable to accelerate; if anything, he ground to a halt in the absence of a strokemaker at the other end, scoring 14 in almost two hours before his nine-hour innings of 140 ended in confusion and a run-out (395 for 5). He should have been out in the first over of the day but Chris Gayle at first slip spilt a routine chance off Mervyn Dillon.

The early dismissal of Russel Arnold for 33 removed Sri Lanka's last attacking batsman. Having made his intentions clear by heaving Dinanath Ramnarine for four in the second over of the day, he was rather unfortunate to be given lbw to Ramnarine two overs later (358 for 4). Replays indicated that the ball would have gone over the top of the stumps.

With Carl Hooper prepared to set increasingly defensive fields to slow down the scoring rate, Sangakkara, who had played the perfect anchor role yesterday, became becalmed and his new partner, Hashan Tillekeratne, showed no more inclination to up the tempo. In 34 overs either side of lunch not a boundary was scored.

In the half-hour before tea Tillekeratne and Thilan Samaraweera finally stirred. Samaraweera reached his half-century before gloving Colin Stuart to wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs for 77 (546 for 6), to give him a Test average of 180; he had made 103* in his only previous innings, against India in Colombo in August.

As the Sri Lankan tail folded, Tillekeratne, fearing he might be robbed of his eighth Test century hit out, reaching the landmark in just over six hours.

Left to face just six overs, West Indies lost Chris Gayle for 1, when he spooned up a catch to Muttiah Muralitharan at mid-off off Chaminda Vaas (3 for 1). Muralitharan's role on the final day is likely to be instrumental in deciding whether Sri Lanka take a 1-0 lead to Kandy.

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