Will Sri Lanka celebrate a remarkable win?

I felt very sorry for poor umpire BC Cooray.

There were some unkind posters suggesting he had sold out the match to the English, being brandished by the locals directly in his eye-line throughout the day.

This must have affected his confidence and he gave another couple of highly debatable decisions on Saturday that favoured the Sri Lankans.

Meanwhile, at the other end, Rudi Koertzen managed to reprieve Graham Thorpe when he appeared to be palpably lbw to Dhamasena, so it was probably evened up by the close of play.

Nail-biting prospects

It was interesting to observe Sanath Jayasuriya in the field in the afternoon on the penultimate day.

He has a suspension hanging over his head and, being captain, means that the behaviour of every single member of his team could, conceivably, land him in hot water.

I believe the match referee Hanumant Singh did exactly the right thing.

There was a noticeable decrease in the amount of unpleasantness and histrionic appealing by the excitable Sri Lankans as a result.

I take England to win the match and square the series, but I also believe that in this, the tightest of tests, the real nail-biting has yet to begin!