Murali has England in a spin

Having followed on 418 runs in arrears, England appeared to have won their second consecutive session until 20 minutes before lunch when the whole complexion of the match changed.

Sri Lanka managed just one wicket in the opening couple of hours but Kevin Pietersen fell into the home side's trap to trigger a rapid decline to 202 for five at lunch.

England had brought up their 200 in impressive fashion with Alastair Cook, unbeaten on 96 at the interval, anchoring the innings. But with Murali operating around the wicket, Pietersen picked out home captain Mahela Jayawardene strategically-placed at short midwicket.

Two balls later, Paul Collingwood was lured out of his ground to be stumped by Prasanna Jayawardene.

And then Ravi Bopara completed a pair for the match when he edged wide of slip and fatally took a couple of steps, no doubt thinking of a run. Mahela Jayawardene dived to his right and relayed the ball to his namesake in a flash to beat Bopara's dive by inches.

As the tension mounted, Matt Prior edged Murali's next ball, the first of the innings' 67th over, narrowly short of slip.

Earlier, Muralitharan maintained his monopoly on Warwickshire batsman Ian Bell's wicket when he dismissed him for the fifth time in the series - he was run out in the first innings - inside the opening hour.

Foxed by a quicker delivery which was perhaps fuller than he thought, Bell played back to a grubber which clipped off stump.

Cook was given a life in his quest to guide his team to safety in just the third full over of the morning, when, on 54, wicketkeeper Jayawardene dropped a straightforward chance from a leg-glance off Lasith Malinga.