It was nice to score a century after getting out for 63 in the first innings Tillakaratne Dilshan More reaction Photo gallery

England ended day four in Kandy battling to save the second Test, with their score 89-2, 279 short of victory.

England have never chased more than 332 to win a Test but the bad weather forecasted could still intervene.

Tillakaratne Dilshan hit his second career Test century as Sri Lanka declared on 279-7.

In reply, Michael Vaughan hit an unbeaten 52, but England lost Marcus Trescothick for 14 and Mark Butcher for six before bad light stopped play.

Nasser Hussain survived a close lbw shout first ball against Muttiah Muralitharan to grind his way to 17 not out from 40 balls late in the day.

Trescothick had a rush of blood to the head in the 11th over as he flashed at a wide delivery from Chaminda Vaas to be caught at point.

HIGHEST CHASES Test record: 418-7 WI v Australia, St John's 2003 England record: 332-7 v Australia, Melbourne 1928 Record in Sri Lanka: 326-5 SL v Zim, Colombo 1998 England record in SL: 171-3 Colombo 1982

Butcher knuckled down against the spinners, hitting just three scoring shots from 41 deliveries before he was beaten by Muralitharan.

With the left-hander's foot on the line, TV umpire Peter Manuel had a tough job to confirm Butcher had failed to escape his second stumping of the match.

Earlier Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene, who made 52, set a new Sri Lanka fourth-wicket partnership record of 153 against this opponent.

The pair came together after overnight duo Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara fell within the first 20 minutes of the day.

Gaining some early swing, James Kirtley bowled Jayasuriya off an inside edge in the third over of the day.

And Ashley Giles celebrated the wicket of Sangakkara when the wicket-keeper was caught off glove and pad at short leg.

Butcher was disappointed to be given out stumped

But Dilshan rarely looked troubled, striking eight fours and hooking six off Andrew Flintoff on his way to the first century of the series.

England quickly spread the field and allowed the duo to milk singles, and they took just 161 deliveries over their century stand.

Jayawardene was happy to take a back seat, passing his half-century from 107 balls just before Dilshan reached three figures from 127.

There was little celebration when the youngster was stumped two balls later, or when Jayawardene was bowled by Flintoff for 52.

Hashan Tillakaratne and Vaas both added quickfire 20s before the declaration came.

With bad light lopping 12 overs off the day, the home side could still rue leaving their innings closure until tea, but their confidence will be higher than England's overnight.

Sri Lanka: Hashan Tillakaratne (capt), Marvan Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thilan Samaraweera, Kumara Dharmasena, Chaminda Vaas, Dinusha Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan.