Close Sri Lanka 162 and 132 for 2 (Atapattu 56*, Jayawardene 45*) trail England 545 (Trescothick 161, Thorpe 123, Butcher 94, Muralitharan 5-143) by 251 runs
scorecard

A fine rearguard action from Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene kept Sri Lanka alive on a steamy, somnolent day at Edgbaston, but England remain well on top thanks to an 11th Test century from Graham Thorpe, and sterling work - with bat and ball - from Matthew Hoggard.

Thorpe's 123 included a partnership of 91 with Hoggard, an England record for the tenth wicket against Sri Lanka. Hoggard batted for over two hours for 17 not out, his highest Test score, and England were finally out for 545, a lead of 383. For good measure, Hoggard ripped into Sri Lanka with wickets in consecutive overs just before tea.

There were no further breakthroughs, however. Atapattu did what Atapattu does, accumulating sedately on the flattest of tracks, and Jayawardene once again looked a class act. At the close they had added 102 for the third wicket, but Sri Lanka still trailed by 251.

The day had started slowly for England, with their innings choking a little once Andrew Flintoff was out for 29, wrongly given caught at short leg off Muttiah Muralitharan (426 for 6). Replays showed the ball came flush off the pad - but it was enough to give Murali his 34th Test five-for, only two behind Sir Richard Hadlee's record. That, and a 64-over stint to boot. Not bad for a man with a bad shoulder.

True to form, England's tail then subsided abysmally, but it was to Nuwan Zoysa, not Murali. Zoysa bowled like a drain yesterday, but somehow ended up with respectable figures of 3 for 93 as England's lower-order batsmen played a series of pathetic strokes.

Alex Tudor (3), Ashley Giles (0) and Andrew Caddick (3) fell in consecutive Zoysa overs, each to injudicious swishes at balls at balls that were swinging away well wide of off stump.

Hoggard, though, put the interests of the team first. Given confidence by Thorpe's Waugh-like tactic of not farming the strike, he was much more comfortable than anybody had a right to expect from a genuine No. 11.

At the other end Thorpe was once again majestic, particularly against Murali, even reverse-sweeping a deliberate chip over first slip at one point. He swept him for four to bring up his fifty, and two balls later guided him to the third-man fence to become the 50th person, and the 14th Englishman, to make 5000 Test runs.

He carried on to his century off 202 balls, as Sri Lanka's body language and fielding sunk to new lows. Eventually it was Thorpe who put them out of their misery, uppercutting Charitha Buddika to Chaminda Vaas at third man.

Already on a high from his batting exploits, Hoggard then nabbed Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara with two splendid pieces of bowling. Jayasuriya was yorked leg stump for 12 by a beauty (28 for 1), and then the out-of-touch Sangakkara fell for 1, plumb lbw to an inswinger that hit him on the back pad and would have demolished middle (30 for 2).

That was as good as it got for England. Ashley Giles (16-3-21-0) teased and probed, and Hussain shuffled his pack diligently - although Alex Tudor did not get a bowl until the 36th over. But there were few scares for the two Sri Lankan batsmen. If the sun shines brightly, they could easily repeat their century-making deeds of Lord's. England remain strong favourites, but so were Sri Lanka after three days in that first Test. This is not over yet.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd