Dilshan leads the way

LONDON (AP):

Tillakaratne Dilshan hit his 11th Test century yesterday to pull Sri Lanka out of trouble on day two of the second Test against England, leading his team to 231 for one at the close.

Matthew Prior's second consecutive century looked to have put the home side in control at Lord's with a first-innings 486 all out, but Dilshan survived a rocky first few overs after lunch to score 127 not out, despite a fractured thumb.

Dilshan and Tharanga Paranavitana (65) set a record opening partnership of 207 in matches between the sides, as a benign pitch and some mundane bowling allowed the batsmen to stay on top all day.

But after two days of bright sunshine, overcast conditions are forecast from today, offering the pace bowlers more assistance for the remainder of the Test.

"We were very pleased first and foremost with the score we got but Dilshan came out and played a great innings,'' Prior said. "We are honest enough to know that we didn't bowl well enough. Things didn't go to plan and catches do go down.

"But we will come back tomorrow and hit them hard and try to bowl in the right areas. If we can do that we can still take a lead into the second innings.''

Crucial intervention

The intervention by Sri Lanka's openers was crucial after their bowlers had looked short of ideas and low on morale at the start yesterday, allowing Prior and Stuart Broad to add 68 off the first eight overs. But with James Anderson out injured, England's pace bowlers were just as mediocre, as they failed to sufficiently control both line and length.

Two missed catches by each side just compounded things, with a total 375 runs added during the day for the loss of just five wickets.

"You are always going to miss a guy like Jimmy Anderson because he's the best swing bowler in the world,'' Prior said. "But this is still a world-class bowling outfit.

"The team keeps surprising itself how we keep performing, even when things are looking ominous. We are not in a bad position and still have a 250-lead.''

After an innings defeat in Cardiff, Sri Lanka need to win at Lord's to have any chance of winning the three-Test series. Dilshan went after the frequent wayward balls served up by Chris Tremlett, Steven Finn and Broad to give his team every chance of at least a draw, reaching his century from 129 balls in his second Test as captain.

"We took advantage of a pretty docile wicket,'' Prior said. "The wicket looks pretty good now so we've got to come back tomorrow and work hard.

"The ball always does things here when there's cloud cover.''

Paranavitana anchored things as Dilshan scored almost twice as quickly, and looked set to make it through the day undefeated but went for another of Finn's wide deliveries and edged to Andrew Strauss at slip with about half an hour left.

That brought Kumar Sangakkara to the crease alongside Dilshan, whose thumb needed taping after he was struck by a rising ball from Tremlett while on 55. Sangakkara ended the day on 13 not out, while Dilshan departed for X-rays on his injury.

"He's in a bit of pain, but the way he batted I don't think it's serious damage,'' Sri Lanka batsman Mahela Jayawardene said.

Broad progressed briskly in the morning session before falling lbw for 54 to Chanaka Welegedara - who removed Graeme Swann in the same over to finish with 4-122 - but Prior's 126 was the key to England passing 400 for a fourth straight innings.