Vandort frustrates England

Having failed to take a wicket in the final session yesterday, the tourists endured another barren spell before lunch as Sri Lanka progressed to 200 for two.

Home captain Mahela Jayawardene's share of an ongoing 178-run stand for the third wicket was 82.

Lanky left-hander Vandort reached his fourth Test century from 180 deliveries, when he on-drove a four off Kevin Pietersen's part-time spin and cut the next ball, a long hop, for two.

The nearest England came to a breakthrough on the third morning was when Monty Panesar spun one viciously from over the wicket to Jayawardene, which flashed narrowly close to both the edge of the bat and off-stump and was put down by wicketkeeper Matt Prior.

Three edged fours were among Vandort's number today while home captain Mahela Jayawardene overcame a slow start to the morning and reached a 125-ball 50.

Pace bowler Steve Harmison, in his first Test for six months, sent down a spell of 5-3-5-0 from the tennis courts end to provide Michael Vaughan with the control he desires in subcontinental conditions.

It was Ryan Sidebottom who took the brunt of the scoring, as Vandort's hammered pull was followed by edges to the third-man rope.

Debutant Stuart Broad surprisingly replaced him from the south end after being warned twice for running on the pitch by umpire Aleem Dar yesterday afternoon.

Vaughan took no chances, however, when Dar's attention was once again drawn to where Broad's feet were landing and withdrew his young bowler from the attack after just one over. A third warning would rule out Broad's participation with the ball for the rest of the innings.