Close Sri Lanka 253 (Arnold 62, Tudor 4-65) and 63 for 1 (Arnold 26*, Sangakkara 9*) trail England by 196 runs
scorecard

The first days belonged to the weather; the third day belonged to the football. But the fourth day at Old Trafford belonged very much to England's cricketers. By the time the Manchester weather came to Sri Lanka's aid, the series was already in England's bag, and the match was very much in their grasp as well.

Inspired by Nasser Hussain's proactive captaincy, and led admirably by Alex Tudor in the absence of the injured Andrew Caddick, England's seamers bowled with sustained hostility and great discipline. Sri Lanka, who resumed on a comfortable 130 for 1, were shot out for 253 in 64 overs. Only Sanath Jayasuriya, who reined in his attacking instincts in a 105-ball 35, offered any long-term resistance.

Nasser Hussain had little hesitation in enforcing the follow-on, and though Russel Arnold and Kumar Sangakkara carried Sri Lanka to 63 for 1 at the close, England have victory in their sights – Marvan Atapattu has been ruled out with a broken finger, and the experienced Jayasuriya has already gone, to Matthew Hoggard for the second time in two sessions.

A day which, for once, dawned bright was England's from start to finish – they picked up two wickets in the first hour and never looked back. Tudor started proceedings, beating Mahela Jayawardene for pace, shortly after he had been forced through the covers for the first boundary of the day. Jayawardene went for a pull shot, but the ball got big on him and ballooned up back towards the bowler, where Tudor hung on to the steepler (142 for 2). Ashley Giles was a relieved man, having just spilled a difficult tumbling catch at deep fine leg.

Kumar Sangakkara had been frustrated all morning, adding just seven runs in 45 minutes, and eventually Matthew Hoggard served up a widish one and Graham Thorpe completed a simple catch at first slip (149 for 3). Sangakkara departed, swishing his bat, for 40, his highest score of a disappointing series where his firm-footed defensive technique has been ruthlessly probed by England's seamers.

Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva proceeded cautiously, adding 22 runs in nine overs. de Silva though, was undone by a superb piece of captaincy by Hussain.

Hussain positioned himself at leg gully, while Andrew Flintoff peppered de Silva with rib-tickling deliveries, just back of a length. de Silva fended off the first five balls of the over, but could not avoid glancing the sixth, and Hussain leapt to his left to complete a fine catch (171 for 4).

Jayasuriya, firmly entrenched by this stage, would have been content to see the adhesive Hashan Tillekeratne walk to the crease, and they added 48 runs in double-slow time to haul Sri Lanka towards the follow-on mark. But Tillekeratne gifted England a vital breakthrough, slogging Giles to Flintoff at deep midwicket for 20 (219 for 5), and the floodgates were opened.

England took the new ball as soon as it was available, and Hoggard extracted some useful swing to prise Jayasuriya from the crease, plumb lbw for a diligent 35 (226 for 6).

Eric Upashantha followed two runs later, his nightmare match continuing as he was given out caught behind off the armguard as he ducked into a short ball from Tudor; Chaminda Vaas was pinned in front of the stumps by Hoggard for 14 (240 for 8), and Tudor returned to round off the innings, as Muttiah Muralitharan was caught behind off a thick-edged swipe for 6 (253 all out).

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