More photos Comment: Aggers on day two

England emerged bowed but unbroken after a prolonged duel with Muttiah Muralitharan on day two in Galle.

Murali taunted England with the bat before single-handedly reducing England to 97-2 in reply to the hosts' 331.

Mark Butcher (15 not) and Graham Thorpe (20) held their nerve to stumps to leave England trailing by 234.

Murali earlier excited the crowd with a streaky 38 off 37 balls at number 11, his highest Test score at Galle and his best against England.

Ashley Giles finished with 4-69, but Sri Lanka's innings was marked by England's inability to deliver the killer blow.

The visitors started the day looking to cut deeper into Sri Lanka's middle-order after finishing Tuesday with marginal honours.

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But it was the home side, 138-4 overnight, who grabbed the initiative early on, Kumar Sangakkara setting the tone with a thumping six off Ashley Giles in the third over.

Sangakkara and Thilan Samaraweera added 70 runs for the fifth wicket, taking Sri Lanka to 202-4 before they lost 3-37.

Sangakkara fell lbw to Richard Johnson's first ball for 71 - his 13th Test fifty - before Andrew Flintoff took two wickets in three balls.

Samaraweera moved to 45 but fell to a soft dismissal when chasing wide outside off-stump and edging behind.

Vaughan cut a disconsolate figure after being bowled by Murali

Upul Chandana then stroked four boundaries en route to 21, but was on his way when somewhat dubiously given out leg before to Flintoff's rising ball.

Six down and on the back foot, it was Sri Lanka who emerged from the interval with the greater impetus.

Chaminda Vaas marshalled the tail superbly, sharing in 40-run stands for the eighth and final wickets with Kumar Dharmasena and Muralitharan.

England still had reason to be happy with their efforts when two quick strikes to Gareth Batty reduced the hosts to 291-9.

But England's inability to finish the job was exposed further as Muralitharan - with a Test average of 11 - started calling the shots.

He lofted Batty to the long-on fence first ball and flashed his bat at anything, including two inexcusably short balls from Flintoff that flew over the slip cordon en route to the fence.

The final breakthrough finally came on the stroke of tea when Giles grabbed his fourth wicket to have Murali caught behind.

England started their innings brightly, Vaughan dusting off the pull shot against Vaas and Trescothick taking debutant paceman Dinusha Fernando for 12 in one over.

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The pair moved serenely to 56, but were separated when Murali, left to graze for an hour, was called into action.

The infielders rose in unison to a ball that beat Trescothick's outside edge, and he did well to keep a poker face when it was ruled he had edged it into the keeper's gloves.

There was no doubt over Vaughan's dismissal, however, with the England captain trying to pad up outside off-stump only to see his bails clipped from between his legs.

Thorpe and Butcher showed great discipline in a tense conclusion to the day.

But stumps will provide only a temporary haven with Murali and company sure to offer another stiff examination on Thursday.

Sri Lanka: ST Jayasuriya, MS Atapattu, DPMD Jayawardene, HP Tillakaratne (capt), KC Sangakkara, TT Samaraweera, HDPK Dharmasena, UDU Chandana, WPUJC Vaas, KADM Fernando, M Muralitharan.