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England staged a late fightback on day three to stay in the hunt in the first Test against Sri Lanka.

The hosts still held a commanding 195-run lead after reaching 99-5, but the loss of 4-13 gave England some hope.

Spinners Ashley Giles and Gareth Batty prospered on the wearing Galle pitch, taking two wickets each in a stirring finish to the day.

Muttiah Muralitharan was the chief destroyer with figures of 7-46 as Sri Lanka earlier skittled England for 235.

The visitors suffered a collapse of their own, losing 4-13 before lunch with Mark Butcher's 51, his 16th Test fifty, propping up a tepid display prior to a tailend fightback.

England started the day positively, Butcher and Graham Thorpe taking the score along to 142-2 from an overnight 97-2 inside the first 90 minutes.

The pressure is on us again because I thought we would close the game out Muttiah Muralitharan More Murali quotes

The Surrey team-mates had a clear strategy to counter Muralitharan and Sanath Jayasuriya, defending patiently and limiting their strokeplay to safe sweep shots.

It was a ploy that worked, though luck was with England three times during a chaotic five-minute period.

Butcher was dropped twice - first by Murali after offering a simple return chance and then by keeper Kumar Sangakkara - while Thorpe was given a life despite edging to slip.

The England pair rode the storm and saw Murali out of the attack, but were soon out of luck when Thorpe shuffled across his crease to Chaminda Vaas and was trapped in front, ending a 75-run stand for the third wicket.

Collingwood's debut Test innings was one he would want to forget

Scenting blood, Sri Lanka skipper Hashan Tillakaratne brought Murali straight back and the spinner did not disappoint, striking in his first over.

Debutant Paul Collingwood went first, caught in the slips, before Andrew Flintoff dallied for 14 balls before retreating deep into his crease and falling leg before.

Chris Read then capped a nightmarish spell for England by edging Murali into the waiting hands of Tillakaratne at bat-pad for a 10-ball duck.

Butcher edged into the keeper's hands soon after lunch, and England were 183-8 when Batty picked out the cannily placed Jayasuriya at leg-slip.

But Giles and Richard Johnson restored some pride with a flurry of blows, sharing four sixes as the last two wickets added 52 runs.

Fittingly, it was Muralitharan who put a stop to the show, gathering his best haul at Galle with the wicket of last man Johnson.

England are bowling very well, but there's some schoolboy mistakes by SL's top batsmen From Farmer Giles Have your say on TMS

The match seemed to be slipping away from England when Marvan Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara took the score along to 72 following the loss of Jayasuriya.

But England are not the only team prone to collapses, and Sri Lanka hit the self-destruct button in striking fashion.

Atapattu, clearly dazed after running Sangakkara out, was stumped after waltzing down the wicket at Batty like a zombie.

The twin dismissals brought to the middle Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne, who made a duck in the first innings.

The out-of-sorts skipper averted a pair by a solitary run before offering no shot to Batty and falling leg before.

Vaas and Jayawardene saw Sri Lanka safely to stumps, and though England finished with a rush there is no denying the upper hand is still held by the hosts.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have named an unchanged squad for the remaining two Tests in Kandy and Colombo.

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.