LONDON (Reuters) - Sri Lanka were on 211 for five in reply to England's first-innings total of 325 when bad light stopped play on the second day of the third test on Saturday at The Oval.
The floodlights were on all day in south London. As the afternoon progressed the light deteriorated, with England only allowed to use their spin bowlers, and fielders sometimes clearly struggling to judge the speed and direction of balls hit their way.
At the close of play Sri Lanka's Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis were on 64 and 54 respectively, having put on a classy century partnership to haul their side over the 200-run mark after the visitors gave up a flurry of early wickets.
With the exception of opener Pathum Nissanka (64), who became England debutant Josh Hull's first international test wicket victim, the visitors' top-order batters struggled to reach double figures.
Openers Nissanka and Dimuth Karunaratne began brightly, helped by some sloppy England fielding. But with the pair having racked up 34, Nissanka dabbed one away and took off for an unlikely looking run. Olly Stone scooped the ball up and hurled a direct hit at the stumps with Karunaratne (9) still far from the crease.
So poor was the light that the umpires then told Chris Woakes to switch to slower spin bowling for the rest of one over - not the medium-fast man's forte. He was swatted for six easy runs before the light improved slightly and the umpires rescinded their decision, to the amusement of the crowd.
"I don't think that'll be happening again," Stone told reporters with a laugh when asked about Woakes having to bowl spin. Kusal Mendis (14) edged a Woakes outswinger straight to Harry Brook in the slips, and Angelo Mathews (3) nudged a similar ball from Stone to Ollie Pope.
Hull, a 6'7" (2.01m) left-handed fast-medium bowler, got Nissanka to swipe at a ball that Woakes leapt to his right to catch, and Stone had new batter Dinesh Chandimal out (0) lbw the next over.
That left the visitors five wickets down for only 93 runs, piling the pressure on de Silva and Mendis, to which they responded in style, steadily rebuilding with some fine strokes and 16 boundaries between them until the skies finally darkened too much for play to continue.
Earlier, England had resumed on 221 for three. Captain Pope underpinned the innings with a huge knock of 154, but his teammates struggled as the side lost their last six wickets for just 64 runs to some much-improved Sri Lankan bowling.
"Yesterday was not the best, but the bowlers came back today and bowled really well in the morning session," Sri Lanka coach Sanath Jayasuriya told reporters.