Live Test Match Blogging / Richard O’Hagan / 20 June 2011 /

The weather has played havoc with much of this Rose Bowl test but England have put themselves in a strong position and are favourites to close out victory on the final day. Follow the action here with Richard O'Hagan.

MATCH ABANDONED AS A DRAW

The rain has beaten us, England take the series 1-0 and I am off home. Thank you for following the series on betting.betfair.com. Andrew, Jaymes and I look forward to seeing you next month for the India series.

STILL RAINING I'm afraid. In fact, it is a lot heavier than it was twenty minutes ago and I wouldn't be surprised if that was the end of play for today, this game and this series.

Obviously, I'll be back as soon as something happens, one way or the other.

RAIN DELAY Sorry, folks, but the covers and floodlights are on again. It looks like a fine but persistent drizzle and there is no chance of play restarting in these conditions.

Over in Jamaica, India and the West Indies are beginning their match. India have three debutants in their side, including the exciting Virat Kholi. You can find all of your odds on that game here

TEA Sri Lanka 334-5 Samaraweera 87 P Jayawardene 6 (lead by 141)

That is tea after another disappointing session for England. They had such high hopes of today and yet they've been second best, even though their bowling has, on the whole, been better than yesterday.

Rain began to fall just before tea, but I'll be back in 20 minutes in the hope of some more play.

WICKET! Sangakkara c Sub (Rouse) b Anderson 119

That came from nowhere. A bit like his dismissal in the second innings at Lord's, Sangakkara just wafted an innocuous ball to point. Sad end to a fine innings, and what a moment for the young substitute fielder Adam Rouse

15.25 Sri Lanka 321-4

The Pietersen experiment lasted only one over. Anderson comes back and bowls entirely the wrong line, too wide outside off, to Samaraweera.

Much as I like these two batsmen - well, much as I like Samaraweera, I'm a bit ambivalent about Sangakkara - I do wish they'd get out and liven this game up a bit.

15.10 Sri Lanka 304-4

Broad has gone off for more treatment, so Pietersen is back on. Swann is now also nursing an injury, having been struck on the thumb stopping a drive from Samaraweera.

England are at 75.0 if you think they can still win this, but with half an hour until tea and England running out of fit bowlers it is no surprise that the draw is now 1.01

15.00 Sri Lanka 300-4

The score is over 300, the lead over 100 and Samaraweera has cramp. Tremlett is smiling but no-one else is and, in fact, there's a slow handclap from the sparse crowd.

The ball keeps zipping past the outside edge, but England look like they are out of ideas here.

14.50 Sri Lanka 285-4

After fifteen overs and no breakthrough with the new ball, England turn to Swann. And his first delivery both spins and keeps low. Samaraweera, who has had problems with the off-spinner all series, keeps it out and then makes a wonderful, gurning-old-man- kind of grimace. He is playing very nicely here, riding his luck and he takes eight from the over. He's on 69 now and the odds on him joining his captain with a hundred are now 1.5

HUNDRED for Kumar Sangakkara. Remarkably, that is his 25th Test hundred but his first in England. A fine innings, and what a difference it could have made to this tour if he had done that earlier in the series.

14.40 Sri Lanka 281-4

There are black clouds on the horizon here. England are doing a lot with the ball, but there are too many wild deliveries again. I think both sides are settling for the draw here, the body language says as much.

14.30 Sri Lanka 273-4

Broad replaces Tremlett, who has been talking to the physio on the boundary. Sangakkara stands tall to drive him to the boundary for four and move to 97. Then he comes close to running himself out taking a quick single to Anderson at mid off. Broad is definitely struggling with that heel, limping back to his mark.

14.20 Sri Lanka 257-4

As Sangakkara edges over first slip for his first runs of the afternoon you sense that it is not going to be England's day. Nothing - that one drop off Herath aside - has gone to hand. Broad has an injured heel and now Tremlett is limping as well.

The draw has come in to 1.09 now and it is looking ever more likely that that will be the result

FIFTY for Thilan Samaraweera. He's battled well and dominated this partnership of 72. He's not enjoyed the new ball much but he is standing up to it well. Last over, in a spectacular piece of pointlessness, Anderson tried to sledge him. Samaraweera just laughed. After all, once you've been shot on the way to a game nothing that a hacked off fast bowler can say is going to bother you.

14.10 Sri Lanka 248-4

Tremlett absolutely rips one past the outside edge of Samaraweera's bat. Next ball he fences one over the slips for four. The uneven bounce is making the batsmen play at everything, which makes it all the more remarkable that Sangakkara cannot get off 89 at the moment.

14.00 Sri Lanka 240-4

Sangakkara hasn't scored since lunch, but he looks uncomfortable against the new ball, playing and missing a couple of times and being hit on the glove as well. This is better from England's bowlers.

Another hot piece of cricket news is that Chris Tremlett can put his entire fist in his mouth. Which is nothing, really - I can do that with my foot.

13.50 Sri Lanka 233-4

This is interesting. First Swann gets some appreciable turn with the old ball, and then Anderson takes the new ball and manages to get both swing and some uneven bounce. Sri Lanka are 41 ahead now and England might not fancy batting again on this pitch if it is beginning to misbehave.

Samaraweera has, as I hoped, batted well here. He's now 1.49 to make his second fifty of the series

13.40 Sri Lanka 226-4

Here we go for the afternoon session. One positive for England is that the new ball is due after one over. Another is that the latest weather forecast that I have seen shows the rain not arriving until around 5pm. Andrew Strauss looked furious when he left the field for lunch and you can bet that there's been some hard talking in that dressing room over lunch.

Betting is, of course, what we are here for. The draw is now on offer at 1.22, England are at 5.5 and Sri Lanka are shortening all the time and are now at 180. Those odds reflect how emphatically that first session belonged to the visitors. They might not win this Test, but they are well on the way to not losing it.

The big cricket news of the say is that Warwickshire have offered to buy out the contract of Leicestershire's James 'Titch' Taylor. A sure sign of a young man on the way up, that.

LUNCH Sri Lanka 226-4 Sangakkara 89 Samaraweera 25

The reason for Strauss' annoyance is clear, as Pietersen is now brought into the attack. Not a good idea to be off the pitch when your captain looks your way. Pietersen's second ball is a filthy full toss which Sangakkara just bunts back to him. I wish I had done that yesterday - I tried to pull one, missed and was bowled.

That's been Sri Lanka's session, though. England have one more over before the new ball and they will hope that they can get a couple of wickets with that, otherwise this game will be only the second back-to-back draw in England in the last five years.

12.45 Sri Lanka 206-4

The only interesting thing to happen in the last ten minutes is that Strauss became extremely grumpy when he saw that Pietersen was off the field and he didn't know about it. Aside from that it is serene progress from the Sri Lankan batsmen and that is why they draw is now a mere 1.24

12.35 Sri Lanka 195-4

Samaraweera dances down the pitch and hammers Swann back over his head for a four. It is a sublime and rather astonishing shot. Sri Lanka are now two ahead and England can feel the game slipping through their fingers.

News from the dressing rooms: Broad has a bruised heel but will return and be able to bowl. Dilhara Fernando, on the other hand, has a tendon problem in his leg and will not be able to bowl should England bat again.

12.25 Sri Lanka 186-4

Thilan Samaraweera is the new man. Although he's not had a good tour, he's still one of my favourite cricketers and it would be nice to see him do well here. Anderson is back into the attack after the failed experiment with Trott, but he's too wide and Samaraweera has to play at only a couple of balls.

England are now at 3.55 but the draw is shortening every over and is now 1.39

WICKET!! Herath lbw b Swann 36

Just as I write that, Herath gets a bit overconfident and tries to sweep a slower ball from Swann. He misses and is plumb lbw.

12.15 Sri Lanka 184-3

Sri Lanka are now on top here. They're only nine runs behind, they've plundered 23 from two Trott overs and nightwatchman Herath is on 36.

12.05 Sri Lanka 163-3

Herath gets another let off as England decide not to review an lbw shout off Swann. It would probably have been overturned. Then, after an extended drinks break, England turn to Jonathan Trott, and Tremlett promptly gifts the batsmen four overthrows. England have gone right off the boil here

11.55 Sri Lanka 157-3

Broad is peppering Herath from around the wicket, but the little spinner can pull quite well and eventually gets one that doesn't bounce as much to get off strike. Broad is ailing, though, and leaves the field. Swann is on at the other end and starting to find a little turn, but it is all looking eerily like the last day at Lord's all over again

11.45 Sri Lanka 148-3

Anderson overpitches twice, and Sangakkara pounds him to the boundary twice. This session is not going how England wanted. After all, the nightwatchman is still there and we are 45 minutes into the day.

As a result, the odds have shifted dramatically. The draw is right in at 1.56 and England have drifted out to 2.8. More surprisingly, Sri Lanka have shortened, albeit to 480. They are not scoring fast enough to win this, but there's clearly some support out there for them.

11.35 Sri Lanka 135-3

England are not bowling badly here, but the Sri Lankans are playing them well. I'd say that there are too many easy singles out there, but runs are less important than wickets at this stage. With that in mind, it is time for Stuart Broad.

FIFTY for Kumar Sangakkara. So much depends upon him today and he's playing very well, certainly the best he has managed on this tour. He's now 2.1 to turn it into a hundred. If he does, the game will be a draw

DROPPED!

Anderson finally induces an edge from Herath and it flies high to the left of Andrew Strauss at first slip - but Graeme Swann dives across from second slip to distract him and the chance goes begging

11.15 Sri Lanka 117-3

A couple of maidens for England, but no sniff of a wicket. The Sri Lankans are digging in and making sure that they learn from the lessons of the first innings.

11.00 Sri Lanka 117-3

We're away. Tremlett has the honour of the first over and he fires the third ball past Sangakkara's off stump as Kumar pulls the bat away. Then Tremlett overpitches and is creamed through the covers for four.

It is overcast and cold, and some pundits are predicting that this game will be over by lunchtime. I don't see that, but it could be close

Remember that you can email me at betfairlivebloggers@hotmail.co.uk or tweet me @theskiver

Whilst you are waiting for this day to start, why not have a read of betting.betfair.com's Cricket Ambassador Michael Vaughan's preview of the day?

10.45 Let's have a look at the odds. England are favourites at 1.86 and the draw now sits at 2.14. Sri Lanka are a way out at 600 - now wouldn't that be a story?

Good morning and welcome to the final day of this Test series between England and Sri Lanka. I'm Richard O'Hagan and I have the honour of guiding you thorough what promises to be a fascinating day here on betting.betfair.com.

The day begins with England, as they were at Lord's, pushing for victory. On that occasion some poor tactics and even poorer bowling let Sri Lanka off of the hook. Today they know that they only have to pick up another seven wickets to take this game. However, the visitors' stand in captain, Kumar Sangakkara, finally seems to have found the form that he has been lacking for the last month and once again looks the formidable obstacle that he has been to Test attacks over the past decade.

The latest weather forecast has the game starting in overcast conditions, brightening later but rain setting in around the tea interval. Which makes the first hour all the more vital. England really need three wickets in that time - including nightwatchman Rangana Herath - or they could find themselves short of time in which to wrap this game up.

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