Hoggard revived England when they were starting to flag

Matthew Hoggard struck late on to boost England's hopes of winning the second Test after rain and Sri Lanka's batsmen had frustrated them on day three.

Hoggard trapped Tillakaratne Dilshan lbw for 59 to end a stand of 125 with Michael Vandort (89), which wiped out the tourists' 154-run deficit.

Sri Lanka closed 40 ahead on 194-5 and 100 more could pose problems on a pitch offering turn and variable bounce.

But Hoggard's strike means England remain favourites to clinch victory.

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Play finally began at 1645 BST after persistent rain in the Birmingham area.

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England were still in the box seat, particularly when Hoggard swung the ball immediately and came close to trapping Vandort leg before and finding the edge of Dilshan's bat.

But he and the other pacemen failed to build on that, with first-innings hero Liam Plunkett unable to bowl because of a bruised shoulder.

Monty Panesar appeared the likeliest source of a breakthrough, twice coming close to finding Dilshan's outside edge, while Vandort chipped just wide of mid-on playing against the spin.

There were enough loose deliveries from the left-arm spinner and the seamers, however, for Vandort to step up his scoring and reach his fifty off 162 balls.

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Dilshan, a naturally more aggressive batsman, got there off 87 deliveries and Flintoff was running out of options when even he could not unsettle the pair with some short deliveries.

Hoggard returned late in the day and started causing problems with his off-cutters, while Panesar had a good shout for lbw against Dilshan and went past Vandort's outside edge.

Just when it seemed Sri Lanka would emerge unscathed and England's lbw appeals were becoming desperate, Hoggard struck gold with one which Aleem Dar ruled would have hit top of middle and leg-stump.

With the new ball due in six overs, England will now fancy their chances of mopping up the tail.