By Paul Fletcher

England looked reasonably comfortable before the rain fell

A severely rain-affected fourth day in Galle greatly increased England's prospects of an unlikely draw.

Alastair Cook hit an unbeaten 53 as the visiting team finally showed some mettle before the weather closed in before lunch with England 102-1.

Michael Vaughan was the only wicket to fall, caught off Chanaka Welegedara for 24, while Ian Bell finished on 17 as four hours of the third Test were lost.

England need 418 to make Sri Lanka bat again and avoid an innings defeat.

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Cook scored his third half-century of the series and afterwards outlined how the rain has increased England's chances of saving the Test.

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"It's taken two sessions off and we are on a mission to save the game so it has definitely helped," said Cook.

"But we could have seven hours to bat on Saturday so it is still going to be tough.

"We'll have to be on our game to get a solid start like we did today. The pitch has lost half a yard of pace so that's made it slightly easier."

The 32.5 overs possible on Friday saw a vast improvement by England - and with good reason following the shambles of their first-innings score of 81.

A homemade poster at the ground said "England hang your heads in shame" and it was clear the sizeable travelling support wanted their team to show some real fight after their capitulation on Thursday.

The opening pair of Vaughan and Cook set about the day in a watchful, circumspect fashion as Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga swung the new ball.

Vaas twice found Cook's outside edge but each time the ball fell short of the slip cordon while Vaughan survived an appeal for lbw on 27 after Welegedara swung a full delivery back into his pads.

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There was little in the way of expansive strokeplay but at least the batsmen were playing as though they coveted their wicket - a characteristic that has been a feature of Sri Lanka's play in this series.

Vaughan, never at his most fluent, had faced 57 balls when he succumbed, caught by Mahela Jayawardene at second slip after chasing a wide half-volley.

Bell joined Cook in the middle and thankfully for England there was no repeat of the schoolboy mix-up that resulted in Bell's run out on Thursday.

Instead the tourists' diligent progress continued and Cook raised his fifty with a single to square off the 105th ball of his innings.

As lunch approached the clouds closed in and play was brought to a holt five minutes before the scheduled break.

The weather worsened and no more play was possible to give England a real hope of saving this Test, a result that looked extremely improbable 24 hours earlier.