The fourth day

It may well be the weather that stops this marvellous Test from ending with an exciting flourish. Sri Lanka have 75 runs needed with three wickets remaining to win but heavy rain is forecast after 2 hours play.

I would put England as favourites as 3 wickets on average have fallen every morning, Sri Lanka’s best batter Angelo Matthews went at 88 and England are well into their tail with only Dickwella their wicketkeeper the man to fear.

It’s been a Test of ebb and flow.

No side has dominated a session. In the morning the Sri Lankans, chasing 300, were 26-3 and it looked game over.

The Matthews/ Dickwella partnership in the afternoon made a victory for the home side the more likely but then the rains came.

Normally it is in England where games are rain-affected but the monsoon continued long into the night. It’s a rarity nowadays to witness a fifth day.

The country is in turmoil with the President seeking to depose the Prime Minister, not that we can be patronising. Another cricketer has been cited for match-fixing but you would not have thought there is such volatility the way Matthews occupied the crease.

So we will risk Sri Lankan roads for the fifth day but, as so often at Lords or the Oval, we will bring our umbrellas and ponchos.