Sri Lanka resumed on 231-1, still 255 short of England's
first-innings 486, and Dilshan took his second-wicket stand with Kumar
Sangakkara to 81 before the latter edged Chris Tremlett to wicketkeeper Matthew
Prior for 26.
Dilshan then took another bad blow to the thumb he damaged
Saturday and was out six balls later. He had added 66 to his overnight score
when Steven Finn bowled him shortly before the umpires called an early tea.
After two days of bright sunshine and near perfect batting
conditions, England's seamers moved the ball regularly under overcast skies.
But although the home side returned from lunch with greater urgency in the
field and a more consistent line from Tremlett and Finn, rain meant only
another 11.2 overs were bowled in the last two sessions.
Mahela Jayawardene was unbeaten on 40, with Thilan
Samaraweera 1 not out when play was halted just five balls and five minutes
into the final session.
With the floodlights on because of poor light, Stuart Broad
completed the over he started before tea, swinging two of his three deliveries
sharply away from the right-handed Jayawardene. Finn beat Samaraweera at the
other end and then tempted him into a thick outside edge before the umpires
called the players off.
Frustrated by seeing the home bowlers halted just as they
were seriously troubling the batsmen, many of the 20,000 fans at Lord's
slow-clapped and jeered the decision.
But the drizzle turned into heavy rain moments after the
covers came on and the crowd slowly filtered away, with 50.4 overs still
unbowled.
The morning session had partly resembled Saturday
afternoon's, with pacemen Broad and Tremlett menacing for a handful of overs
before the Sri Lankans settled on a good batting track.
Broad beat the bat twice with an opening maiden and Tremlett
conceded just a leg bye off his first over, lifting one delivery sharply past
Sangakkara. That was the pattern for the first half dozen overs, but Dilshan
again weathered the early storm, surviving the odd mis-hit or swinging delivery
that beat the bat.
Dilshan made full use of the bowlers' tendency to stray down
leg side and again tried to hit spinner Graeme Swann out of the attack.
Just as opener Tharanga Paranavitana had done on Saturday,
Sangakkara played the more circumspect role in partnership with Dilshan and
added only 13 from 64 deliveries faced before he was tempted by a wide delivery
from Tremlett in the 81st over. He edged Tremlett's fourth delivery with the
new ball with the shoulder of his bat to Prior.
Sangakkara's average score in England is just 27.64, less
than half of his overall test average of 56.42.
Having beaten his previous test best of 168 and passed the
previous record of 190 by a Sri Lankan at Lord's, Dilshan was struck on the
bottom hand by a rising ball from Tremlett after lunch.
He dropped his bat and gloves immediately as the ball bent
back his already taped thumb. Although he continued after treatment, he was
clearly in discomfort from that point and added just one more run before a
full-length delivery from Finn cut in and took a slight edge onto his leg stump.
Dilshan's
253-ball innings gives Sri Lanka some hope of overhauling England's total.
After an innings defeat in Cardiff, Sri Lanka needs a victory to have any
chance of winning the three-match series.
