Thorpe: Superb century

How fitting, therefore, that Giles - who taken 4 for 11 to set up the prospect of a three-day win - and Graham Thorpe, scorer of a superb century in the first innings, were there to guide England to safety.

The most worrying thing about Sri Lanka's collapse was that we all knew there was a strong possibility of it happening.

Sri Lanka's batsmen have always been adventurous, exciting and wonderfully entertaining but there is also a persistent streak of self-destruction that is often apparent when the team is under pressure.

In Colombo there was nothing more required of the batsmen other than to occupy the crease.

Had Sri Lanka managed to plod along for a day, they would have been in the position to declare and leave England an uncomfortable two or three sessions against Muralitharan on the wearing pitch.

But the example set by Jayasuriya - admittedly his natural game - was to go for the shots regardless and this led to the downfall of his team.

A sympathetic word, however, for Russel Arnold. By now, you will know that I am not a fan of the third umpire giving decisions based on slow motion replays and this dismissal illustrated precisely the mess the game is now in.

Giles: There at the end

Umpires can refer a catch to the third umpire only to adjudicate whether the ball carried to the fieldsman, or not. The third umpire cannot rule on the most crucial aspect - namely whether or not the ball actually made contact with the bat.

So, this afternoon, we had the absurd situation in which the third umpire had to press the light to dismiss Arnold - because the ball had carried to Hussain at slip - but in the full knowledge that the batsman should not have been given out because he had not edged it!

What a crazy situation, and no wonder Arnold looked thunderstruck as he was dragged away from the crease!

That said, I fear that the Sri Lankans will face the full fury of a media backlash over the next few days. Having won the first test in Galle and won all three tosses on pitches designed to assist their spinners, to have lost this series will be a major blow.