"I thought we chased the wickets this morning, maybe bowled a bit too full... (but) you take it on the chin and we came out fighting Steve Harmison

The Durham paceman took 3-28, Ryan Sidebottom snaring the other wicket, as England battled back in the heat.

And, with victory in Galle essential if England are to tie the series 1-1, Harmison said: "I'm happy - 147-4, you can't argue with that.

"We want to win the Test match first and foremost, and we had a good day."

Interview: England's Steve Harmison

However, the 29-year-old admitted it had been another tough day after skipper Michael Vaughan had opted to field first in oppressive conditions, expecting the pitch to assist the bowlers.

"It puts you under pressure and the middle session was a tough one, all the bowlers were pretty warm here," he said.

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"I thought we chased the wickets this morning, maybe bowled a bit too full. We had a chat at lunch, dragged our lengths back and didn't look back from there.

"It was one of those things, you have to take it on the chin. We did that and came out fighting."

Sri Lanka coach Trevor Bayliss was left to bemoan the loss of Chamara Silva's wicket as the light began to fade.

"If we hadn't lost the last one we might have had our noses in front," he said.

"Having to bat first on that wicket meant it was a fairly even sort of a day.

"We would have been bowling first as well but the thing we were surprised about was the wicket probably didn't do as much as we thought it might."