I'll 'ave Half

Less than half a day was possible on the 3rd day of the 2nd Test between England and Sri Lanka at Lords - 38 overs in fact - but it was long enough to confirm that this is still a very good deck on which to bat and that Sri Lanka are determined to put Cardiff behind them. In a series which has so far provided as much sitting in dressing rooms as playing cricket, the weather forecast offers further opportunities for cards and iPods tomorrow.

Dilshan batted with relative comfort, looking tense in the early overs but was able to pick up easy runs as Strauss adopted the modern tedious method of having many players on the boundary to while away the time before the new ball. It is such a boring and negative tactic and coaches should be fined for suggesting it in much the same way as captains face penalties for falling to deliver enough overs to punters. Again, it advanced the batting side's cause.

Sangakkar, who has Ponting's lack of favour for England in his batting record, batted like a man determined to do well in adding 81 with Dilshan for the 2nd wicket but was undone by Tremlett only four deliveries into the new ball with a ball that moved across him and he failed to cover off the front foot. Dilshan then added 82 with Mahela Jayawardene at four an over but appeared disturbed by a blow to his thumb, which he constantly adjusted for fifteen minutes before a quicker, fuller ball from Steve Finn which would have passed over the stumps, brushed his leg above the pad and hit his off stump. There were a few overs which followed and rain set in at 3:40pm and ruined the rest of the day, with England still needing to bowl 52 overs.

Jayawardene looks very comfortable and although his defence was compact and assured, as usual, his play off his legs was superb, dispatching all of the quicks for boundaries in an arc from mid on to fine leg and not a pull or hook among today's choice selection. Just before the end, he gave Tremlett a booming reminder that his off side play was none too shabby either with a glorious cover dive on the up which no surgeon could have dissected with any greater finesse nor wood chopper delivered more power. At 40no, his prospects of a third consecutive Lords hundred appear rich.

More rain tomorrow and a draw imminent but who can predict with certainty after Cardiff became the draw that never was.