Sri Lanka 263 (Dhananjaya 69, Kamindu 64, Nissanka 64) and 94 for 1 (Nissanka 53*) still need 125 runs to bat England 325 and 156 (Smith 67, Kumara 4-21, Vishwa 3-40)

In a match as changeable as the weather in south London, Sri Lanka took control of the third and final Test against England on day three at the Oval.

After a miserable performance on the opening day, when their bowlers failed to capitalise on a winning coin toss in perfect conditions, Sri Lanka were forced to watch Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett shine through the gloom.

But it is the details of these key moments that will tell us where this Test stands on the final day.

And when bad light brought another early end, Sri Lanka were 94 for 1 and 125 away from a consolation win. Chris Woakes’ superb return catch removed Dimuth Karunaratne for just 8, but that was the only wicket to fall in Sri Lanka’s free scoring in the fourth innings.

Nissanka reached his second half-century of the match off just 42 balls, hammering a Josh Hull ball into the rope just before the lights went out, near mid-off, to remain unbeaten on 53 while Kusal Mendi’s 30 was not out.

Sri Lanka’s bowlers, led by Vishwa, got the ball moving in by far the best conditions of the game up to that point, despite a few brief interruptions due to sunshine.

But Smith then struck 52 runs off the last 19 balls faced, and helped himself to 20 runs off an over from Milan Rathnayake to lead England’s second-innings comeback from 82 for 7 to 140 for 8.

When Olly Stone was out, giving Kumara his fourth wicket, and Asitha Fernando had Shoaib Bashir also caught by Nishan Madushka – who was standing in for the injured Dinesh Chandimal – England had extended their lead to 218.

Two early strikes had given Sri Lanka hope during a morning session that had been extended due to bad weather on the first two days, with Duckett and Pope falling cheaply.

Lawrence hit Asitha for six runs over long-off and two balls later cleverly sliced ​​through point for four runs. But after beating his previous series record by a run, he was undone by a ball from Kumara that moved away late and touched the edge of the bat before landing in Chandimal’s gloves.

Vishwa went on the attack in the 15th over and hit the third ball with a superb inside-swept yorker that hit Joe Root’s boot right in front of him.

Kumara had Woakes caught behind him, resulting in a six-ball duck, but then Chandimal had to be walked off after he stopped an errant ball from Kumara down the leg side to Gus Atkinson, injuring his lower back in the process. Atkinson was caught lbw by Rathnayake, having faced 14 balls for his 1 before Smith settled in.

Earlier, Hull and Stone had preserved England’s lead after Sri Lanka resumed play at 211 for 5, trailing by 114. Hull made amends for taking Dhananjaya out of the match on the second evening when he had the Sri Lanka captain caught for 69 off his 11th ball of the day, an attempted pull that bounced off the top edge into deep backward square.

This sparked a series of five wickets for 52 runs in 13.3 overs, with Hull, Stone and Woakes sharing four of the five wickets and Atkinson out of the field with a hamstring injury, but recovered sufficiently to bowl in the fourth innings.