By Jonathan Agnew BBC cricket correspondent in Sri Lanka

England's hard-earned and gripping draw was a superb effort, made all the more notable because they received little assistance from the elements.

It is true that bad light finally ended proceedings with the final pair clinging on.

But by then the Sri Lankan bowlers had already had all day in which to finish off the visitors in helpful conditions - and failed.

The England balcony celebrate as though the had won

There will be bitter disappointment in their dressing-room this evening.

When Dinusha Fernando surprisingly removed Michael Vaughan as early as the third over of the day, it seemed highly unlikely that England could survive.

Judging by the handful of overs he bowled today, we will see more of this youngster.

He generated pace and bounce and, significantly, more movement off the pitch and in the air than any other pace bowler in the match.

Curiously, the captain Hashan Tillakaratne held back his trump card, Muttiah Muralitharan, until he had already tried two other spinners.

The pair he went for wereThilan Samaraweera, who did not bowl a ball in the first innings, and Sanath Jayasuriya.

It is one thing, as a captain, to be imaginative, and another to be a little bit too clever. Today, Tillakaratne fell into the second category.

Surely he should have brought on Murali before England's batsmen had been given the chance to get used to the pitch, conditions and so on courtesy of his lesser bowlers?

Umpires Venkat and Harper were kept busy throughout

After Vaughan's dismissal, the two left-handers, Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcher, batted remarkably easily.

They were as positive as they could be under the circumstances, but after a stand of 46, Trescothick came down the pitch to Jayasuriya and was bowled as he aimed an expansive heave over midwicket for 24.

On the one hand, it seemed a waste and hardly the stroke of a batsman who was playing for a draw.

However, since we have encouraged England's batsmen to show some aggression against Murali's support bowlers, it would be churlish to criticise Trescothick too severely.

However, the one who did get it wrong was Thorpe. Again, he advanced down the pitch and aimed a huge hit towards the fort.

The problem was the bowler was Murali, and Thorpe was caught at mid-on.

I can't help but feel that Murali has more than enough of a chance of getting you out anyway, without a batsman so obviously contributing to his own downfall.

Working out how to retain Collingwood will be a happy dilemma Jonathan Agnew

Thorpe's dismissal for 10 brought in Paul Collingwood who, with Butcher, saw off the Sri Lankans for 27 overs.

Butcher finally fell to Chaminda Vaas for 54, his second and best half-century of the game.

Andrew Flintoff immediately sliced a catch to gully for nought rather casually.

But Collingwood galvanised the lower order for a total of three hours until his own demise for 36 - a brilliant catch by Tillakaratne at silly point.

It was largely due to Collingwood's effort - and Giles's stubbornness at the end - that England saved the game.