England beaten in Kandy

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Bell and Prior spent more than two and a half hours together repelling the hosts before falling within the space of three Muttiah Muralitharan deliveries on the final evening.

With shadows covering the entire square, Murali then claimed a fortuitous leg before dismissal of Ryan Sidebottom - replays highlighted a huge inside edge - to leave England nine wickets down.

Set an improbable 350-run victory target, Michael Vaughan's team's fate was sealed when Lasith Malinga bowled Matthew Hoggard with a searing yorker.

England appeared to be sliding towards an inevitable defeat when they lost their fifth wicket of the day, and sixth overall, shortly after lunch.

But a defiant seventh-wicket stand between Bell (74) and Prior (63) took the contest deep into the evening session.

Both men were then bowled by world-record holder Murali - Prior dismissed by one which skidded on in similar manner to the one which did for Paul Collingwood in the first innings and Bell undone by an off-spinner for which he over compensated.

Having waited until his 32nd over of the innings for an initial breakthrough, Murali then claimed a third in quick succession when left-hander Sidebottom was given out by umpire Asad Rauf.