Jayawardene sets string of records

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene enjoyed a record breaking day as his team took command of the second Test against England in Colombo.

Jayawardene went past the Sri Lanka Test runs record of the now retired Sanath Jayasuriya and also the 7,000 mark as he was undefeated on 167 not out by the close.

His partnership of 227 for the third wicket with Michael Vandoort (138), who was scoring his fourth Test century, enabled Sri Lanka to close the day on 379 for four wickets, an overall lead on first innings of 28.

Jayawardene, who has a superb record on the SSS Colombo ground, also equaled Aravinda de Silva's Sri Lankan record of 20 Test centuries with a near flawless display on a slow wicket, finishing 167 not out.

He now has 2,034 runs from 19 matches at the SSC, the most by any batsman at a single venue, surpassing former England captain Graham Gooch's 2015 runs from 21 Tests at Lord's.

Jayawardene and Vandoort came together on the second day with Sri Lanka 22 for two wickets in reply to England's 351.

The stand was only broken on the afternoon of the thrid day as left-arm paceman Ryan Sidebottom trapped Vandoort leg before wicket for his third wicket of the innings.

Chamara Silva then joined Jayawardene for another frustrating stand of 128 for the fourth wicket, making 49 before he fended a short ball from the recalled Steve Harmison to Ravi Bopara at point.

Jayawardene is also looking forward to forcing a victory.

"The wicket is deteriorating," he reported. "If we can just try to bat for a couple more sessions and put 150 or 200 extra on the board we can give Murali (Muttiah Muralitharan) something to play with.

"England will have to bat really well."

England, who lost the first Test by 88 runs, face an uphill struggle to avoid defeat but coach Peter Moores was putting on a brave face.

"We'll work very hard to try and stay in this game - the lads will come back tomorrow for another go. We have to come back and fight," he said. E-mail to a friend