Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene's century made sure England would have to bat again in the first Test.

Jayawardene was finally dismissed for 119 before bad light hit day four for a third time at Lord's, with Sri Lanka 381-6, leading by 22 runs.

Jayawardene and Farveez Maharoof (59) were both dropped at slip in a century partnership that occupied the morning.

Tillekaratne Dilshan then joined his skipper in a stand of 68 and was unbeaten on 39 at the third break.

LATEST UPDATES (All times BST)

1835: There seemed little likelihood of a resumption but play is finally abandoned for the day over half an hour after the players left the field.

1801: After a seven-over session the light is offered to the batsmen again and they need no second invitation in heading for the pavilion.

1800: Kapugedera gains in confidence, keeping out a yorker from Flintoff and driving down the ground for two.

1755: Hoggard tests Kapugedera with a short one, the youngster attempts a hook and makes no contact, and is reproached by his senior partner.

1742: Kapugedera gets off the mark in Test cricket with a prod past a vacant short-leg, leaving Dilshan to drive through the covers for four.

1740: An inswinging yorker traps teenager Kapugedera on the boot but umpire Dar, who replays suggest was wrong to say Jayawardene had gloved Flintoff, decides it was outside the line of off-stump.

1737 WICKET: (Jayawardene 119) The skipper has to drag himself off the field after gloving Flintoff down the leg-side and giving Jones a catch reminiscent of the one that clinched victory in the Edgbaston Test last year.

1727: Flintoff takes the ball after the lengthy delay and pins Dilshan on the crease, but umpire Dar quickly decides it is going to go over the top, before an outside edge falls short of Strauss at slip.

1631: The umpires decide that while Panesar possesses no physical danger to the batsmen, Mahmood might do and the batsmen are allowed to walk off to the pavilion again.

1626: Short and wide from Mahmood and this time Dilshan gets plenty of bat on it and carves it away for four, amid suggestions that the fielders can not see the ball in the gloomy light.

1620: Paul Franks, not that one, gets his wish as Panesar comes in with a slip and silly point to Dilshan.

"I can't understand why Monty hasn't been bowled much today - he looked very dangerous yesterday"
Paul Franks via email

1616: Mahmood comes back for Flintoff and almost makes the breakthrough in unlikely fashion with a wide long hop that Dilshan chases but luckily for him makes no contact with.

1611: A fluent off-drive from Jayawardene off Hoggard rockets over the ropes and takes the Sri Lankans within one run of England.

1609: The batsmen scamper through for a quick single to record the fifty partnership from 83 balls, Dilshan's contribution exactly 25.

1554: Flintoff leaves the field and changes his boots on the pavilion steps, perhaps subjected to the thoughts of some members, those that are not having their customary afternoon nap.

1548: Hoggard does pitch one up but it is driven stylishly through the covers for four by Jayawardene, who looks as though he could bat all day tomorrow as well.

"I don't think they've bowled with their brains today, they haven't pitched it up enough,"
TMS expert Geoffrey Boycott

1541: Flintoff charges in as play resumes, but the chances of further disruption are high, with threatening clouds all around the famous arena.

TEA: Sri Lanka 339-5

1506: Having clipped Hoggard stylishly through mid-wicket, Jayawardene accepts the umpire's offer of the light and heads for the pavilion. An early tea is taken.

1502: The captain punches the air after reaching three figures in 303 minutes with four overthrows after Mahmood's attempt to run him out from mid-on from a quick single evades the stumps and the fielders.

1459: Another wild throw from Panesar sails over Jones' head as Jayawardene moves within two of a century.

Could it be that the Strauss drop combined with the forecast for rain tomorrow could be the moment when the match finally slipped away?
Mark Kidger via email

"He is the Norman Wisdom of England's fielders"
Jonathan Agnew describes Panesar

1452: Panesar continues to delight the crowd with his antics in the field, and a poor throw eludes Jones and results in an overthrow.

1450: Flintoff starts a new spell, replacing Mahmood, whose seven overs after lunch yielded two wickets for 30.

1448: Hoggard's misfortune continues as Dilshan steers another ball through the third man area for four.

1439: Dilshan plays a cavalier cut that whistles to the boundary and England settle for a contemplative drink and nutrition in the form of bananas.

1438: Jayawardene guides Hoggard through mid-wicket, Panesar chases after it to the delight of the crowd, he cannot prevent a third run but still receives a hearty ovation.

1433: Hoggard returns with three slips in place and soon has a confident appeal for lbw against Dilshan, but umpire Koertzen is unmoved.

1429 WICKET: Sri Lanka 303-5 (Samaraweera 6) Some extra bounce from the rangy Mahmood and Samaraweera plays an ill-advised force off the back foot, succeeding only in edging to Jones.

1426: The 300 arrives as another four is guided through the slip area by Jayawardene to the third man boundary.

"He's given Sri Lanka a chance to win this match"
TMS expert Mike Gatting

1409 WICKET: Sri Lanka 291-4 (Maharoof 59) Maharoof attempts another expansive drive, Caribbean style with little foot movement but he does not quite time it and Pietersen takes a tumbling catch at cover.

"It went like a tracer"
Mike Gatting, TMS expert

1406: Mahmood is dismissively slashed to the cover boundary by Maharoof off the back foot, and he stands tall to play an even more impressive shot off the back foot for four more.

"It's very easy to tell the difference between Duncan Fletcher and a ray of sunshine,"
TMS stalwart Henry Blofeld

1401: Jayawardene punches Mahmood elegantly backward of square for another boundary, prompting skipper Flintoff to remove his cap and scratch his head as the quest for a breakthrough continues.

1358: The hundred partnership comes up from 230 balls in 157 minutes when Jayawardene slices Mahmood high over the slips for four.

1356: Plunkett overpitches and is driven down the ground by Maharoof, who then reaches his second Test fifty in stunning fashion by pulling the next ball deep into the stands for six.

1351: Some variable bounce enters into the equation, Mahmood having rapped Jayawardene painfully on the glove, then sends down a shortish one that creeps along the ground and just wide of the off-stump.

1346: Plunkett produces a superb delivery that draws the batsman forward and moves away off the seam, but it is not perfect because it is too good to find the edge and yet again the Sri Lankans survive.

1340: Mahmood begins after lunch and nips one back into Maharoof, who slumps to the ground, which can only mean that he has been hit in a certain place, and there is a delay.

LUNCH: Sri Lanka 258-3

1256: At the moment, however, they are failing to fire and Jayawardene clips an errant Flintoff delivery off his pads to the boundary to move to 70.

"England will recognise that if they take one wicket they could go bang, bang, bang"
TMS expert Mike Selvey

1250: Plunkett returns but Jayawardene collects his 1,000th Test run with a guided thick edge through the gully for four, and Strauss does little to rebuild his reputation in the field by hitting the stumps when the batsmen are home to result in overthrows.

1238: Maharoof collects four more with a thick edge along the ground off Flintoff, Pietersen chases after it as if his life depends on preventing the boundary but it hits the rope as he slides in.

"We know Strauss can catch the ball, he's a fine slip fielder, but it will be playing on his mind now"
Mike Selvey, TMS expert

1226: The Sri Lankans continue to enjoy some belated good fortune, Hoggard turning Maharoof around with a peach that does everything but take the edge or hit the stumps, then a ball loops to safety short of mid-on, and worst of all Strauss puts down a straightforward edge from Jayawardene at third slip.

1223: Maharoof, on 30, pushes forward and the ball flies off the edge to Collingwood at third slip, who gets a hand to it but cannot hold on.

1221: Flintoff shares the new cherry and produces one that angles in and then moves away off the seam but Maharoof does not get the edge, as England suffer more frustration.

1218: One delivery cuts back between Jayawardene's bat and pad and just passes over the stumps, but there is little else to trouble the batsmen.

1215: Although the old ball is moving around, Flintoff opts for the new ball and he hands it Hoggard in the hope of taking the first wicket of the day.

1212: A good one from Collingwood finds Maharoof's edge and heads for Trescothick at first slip, but although it appears to have gone straight into his hands, it actually bounces a few inches in front of him.

1210: Middlesex's Jamie Dalrymple replaces his county colleague Strauss, who is still troubled by an ankle problem, as Collingwood comes on for Panesar and begins with a no-ball.

1207: Jayawardene carves Plunkett over the slips for four to record the fifty partnership, 26 of which are from his partner.

1159: The biggest cheer of the day for an impressive over from Plunkett, who produced some dramatic movement away from the bat and some sharp lift.

1156: Plunkett continues his improved line and length with one that beats Maharoof's push forward and is taken at head height by Jones.

"Jayawardene plays the ball a fraction of a second later than ordinary batsmen do"
TMS expert Mike Selvey

1138: Panesar replaces Mahmood and comes in round the wicket with a slip and gully to Maharoof, and Jayawardene completes his second fifty of the match, his 30th in Tests, from 98 balls.

1136: An elegant square drive eludes Collingwood's lunge and brings Jayawardene four, taking him to 49.

1134: Plunkett replaces Hoggard, who will be required for the new ball in eight overs, and Collingwood flexes his injured knee tentatively after he fields at point.

1131: An imperious drive off the back foot with the front elbow as high as the MCC coaching manual brings Maharoof four more as Mahmood struggles to replicate his first innings rhythm.

1123: Maharoof brings up the 200 with a flaying drive over gully to the backward point boundary.

1121: Mahmood, with a t-shirt under his regular short-sleeved shirt, replaces Flintoff from the Pavilion End.

1118: Hoggard nips one back to catch Jayawardene in the "breadbasket" never a pleasant experience, especially on a cold day, but the skipper responds with a fine hook shot that records the first boundary of the day in the fifth over.

1116: Flintoff opts for a short of a length approach and Geoffrey counts five balls in the over that the batsmen played off the back foot.

1112: England have 13 overs to wait for the new ball.

1105: Panesar receives an enthusiastic cheer as he makes his way to field on the third man boundary, and it is Flintoff who begins from the Pavilion End.

1103: Geoffrey describes the 'huddle' favoured by teams on the outfield these days as "a load of cobblers".

1101: After two short ones to begin with, Hoggard beats Maharoof with a pearler that drifts away from the outside edge and misses the off-stump by a gnat's whatsit.

1058: Geoffrey Boycott tells TMS listeners that Hoggard and Flintoff should open the bowling for England, and it will be his fellow Yorkshireman who takes the ball for the first over.

1055: Although they have been outplayed, Sri Lanka have not been blessed with much good fortune in this match, and their batsmen will face conditions ideal for England's seam bowlers.

1050: It may be a grey day in north London but there is the usual sprinkling of garish blazers, ties and hats to brighten the surroundings.

1030: There are overcast conditions at Lord's as players go through their final warm-up before play begins.