England face tough final day after Sangakkara runs riot

Sangakkara struck 152 out of Sri Lanka's 442 for eight declared, which left England with an improbable chase of 350.

Matthew Hoggard, who secured a belated breakthrough on a fourth day dominated by the home batsmen, dampened the mood further by aggravating a back injury.

England went wicketless until 10 minutes before lunch and were made to spend 130 overs in the field in all.

It was Yorkshireman Hoggard's first delivery of a new spell which ended a 122-run stand between Mahela Jayawardene and Sangakkara - the former well held from a leg glance by wicketkeeper Matt Prior, standing up to the stumps.

But Sangakkara hit a maiden Test hundred against England, and his 16th in all, to complete a set of three-figure scores against every Test nation.

Hoggard was receiving treatment for a lower back injury when Sangakkara crashed an aerial drive through the covers for four off James Anderson to seal his latest century.

Hoggard, 30, sent down the first two overs with the new ball in the second session but succumbed to the discomfort which has plagued him throughout the second innings - worryingly it was damaged facet joints in his back which caused him to miss last summer's Test series against India.

For more than two hours this morning, English efforts were repelled by a pair of Sri Lanka's many record holders and runs came even more freely in the afternoon.

Muttiah Muralitharan was centre of attention yesterday, amid extended celebrations of his new record Test-wicket haul, but it was captain Jayawardene and Sangakkara who developed the home advantage today.

South Africa know only too well of their powers of concentration on home turf, having spent 157 overs separating them last year in a Test-record partnership of 624 in Colombo.

The 60 runs they shared in the first hour set the tone and came at an even split.

Since relinquishing the wicketkeeping gloves 18 months ago, Sangakkara has averaged in excess of 150, struck seven hundreds, including two doubles, and two half-centuries.

Yet England may have considered themselves unfortunate not to have separated the overnight pair before the first drinks break as Jayawardene edged short of diving wicketkeeper Prior, who was soon appealing for a caught behind against the same batsman after a delivery from the luckless Anderson nipped back and brushed the trousers.

An inside edge for four by Sangakkara off Ryan Sidebottom in the very next over summed up England's fortune in the first session.

Even when left-arm spinner Monty Panesar found some life in what has become an increasingly sluggish surface with a delivery which spat at Sangakkara, the ball ballooned over the fingertips of Alastair Cook at short-leg and to safety.

That scare came with Sangakkara on 60 and it was not until the 90s that he made another aberration.

Having wafted uncharacteristically at a handful of deliveries, the left-hander sliced to slip off Sidebottom on 98 but was inexplicably dropped by Ian Bell.

Sangakkara brought up his 184-ball ton in the next over, the 95th of the innings, and was well set for another mammoth score.

Panesar trapped Chamara Silva leg before and had Jehan Mubarak caught in the deep during the afternoon action, after Prior missed a stumping chance offered by Mubarak on nought.

The spinner claimed a third scalp of the innings when Lasith Malinga hoiked to leg and missed.

That came after two wickets in quick succession from Paul Collingwood - Prasanna Jayawardene bowled by one which shaped back and Sangakkara snapped up an inch above the turf at midwicket by England captain Michael Vaughan.

The final session proved a turgid affair as Sri Lanka ground out their advantage, only livened up by a swarm of bees sending the players and umpires diving for cover.