An overnight leak in the pitch covers, which delayed the start of play by three hours, coupled with England's pedestrian batting yesterday, looked for all the world like it had condemned this match to a drab draw. But, England have shown a propensity for tight finishes in recent months and they very nearly pulled of an unlikely victory this evening.

The large Sunday crowd were treated to some tense cricket as the Sri Lanka board President's XI, who trailed England by 165 runs when England declared on their overnight score of 418 for seven, collapsed from 139 for one from to 190 for seven.

Michael Vaughan : 3 wickets Photo CricInfo

With the seventh wicket falling with 21 overs still scheduled till the close and the President's XI only having a lead of 25 runs, the possibility of a last minute victory opened up. Tillakaratne Dilshan had defied the English bowling all day, during the course of a brilliant century, his second in successive matches against England, and he kept them at bay as the evening drew to close. Both captains finally settled for a draw at 6pm with the President's XI on 234 for seven.

Although the day's play had been tense, it thankfully remained good tempered in contrast to the events of last night, when Craig White and Ruchira Perera had become involved in an ugly verbal exchange. Hussain confirmed the incident saying: "An incident happened out on the pitch which we were not amused by and we have passed it on to the umpires and the Sri Lankan board."

Speaking after the match, Hussain was delighted with the team's performance: "Apart from a couple of niggles, everything has gone exactly to plan. We could not have asked for better opposition and have played on two good cricket wickets. We are very happy with where we are for the Test series."

England were also relieved that Ashley Giles was able to bowl 19 overs today without any adverse reaction to his Achilles tendon. They will now have their fingers crossed that it doesn't stiffen overnight.

"We tested Ashley out today and we will test him out again before the Test match and everything looks fine at the moment," Hussain said afterwards. "With fitness nothing is definite as things can change overnight, but as it stands now, both Hick and Giles are both fit."

England though should be concerned that their spinners are proving expensive. Giles's 19 overs cost 83 runs and although Croft bowled his best spell of the tour today, picking up three wickets, he has consistently conceded four runs per over throughout the tour.

Hussain played down the issue: "I thought that Robert Croft bowled as well as I have seen him bowl on the trip and Michael Vaughan bowled well. It would be nice if they were going for one or two an over, but that is the way they play spin here. We get our control from the seam bowlers."

The English spinners have not been helped by the fact that they have had to bowl to the wristy Tillakaratne Dilshan. His unbeaten 115 today from 161 balls was further confirmation that he is a class act.

He came to the wicket when Avishka Gunawardene was caught at second slip off a rhythmical Andrew Caddick. He was dropped by Michael Atherton at first slip when on 13, but was soon into his stride. Immediately after the tea interval, having by now played himself in, he decided to dominate the bowling and scored at will thereafter. Craig White was crashed for 15 in his solitary over of the day and the spinners were treated with disdain at times.

Were it not for Dilshan then the President's XI would surely have lost. Ruwin Peiris opened with a free flowing 41 before being caught at first slip off Croft, whilst trying to loft the off spinner over extra cover. Schoolboy batsmen, Sunendra Kumara, then added 30 runs with Dilshan before he was caught of the full face of the bat by Michael Vaughan at short leg.

His wicket started the slide as Hashan Tillakaratne was caught behind off Michael Vaughan, the first of three wickets for the part time off spinner. Jeevantha Kulatunga waited just three balls before trying to launch Ashley Giles over the top and was easily stumped by Alec Stewart. Muthumudalige Pushpakumara shouldered arms to Vaughan to be bowled and Niroshan Bandaratilleke was caught at silly point first ball.

Dilshan at last found a stout partner in Dinusha Fernando and the pair remained to the close, adding 44 runs for eighth wicket.

Astonishingly, Dilshan's efforts have not guaranteed him a place in the Test side. The selectors have shown their hand for Galle and have apparently opted for six batsmen and three spinners, to ensure cover should Muralitharan break down. This being the case, Dilshan is competing with Aravinda de Silva for the final batting place.

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