First Test, Lord's, day three (close):
Sri Lanka 555-8 dec v England 275 & 53-0
 Scorecard  Day three clockwatch

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England face an almighty battle to avoid defeat by Sri Lanka in the first Test after being thoroughly outplayed against all expectations for the third day in succession at Lord's.

As England followed on, Marcus Trescothick (31) and Michael Vaughan (20) added 53 runs in an unbeaten first-wicket stand, but they are still 227 runs away from making Sri Lanka bat again with two days remaining.

Vaughan scored a half century for England

England made a mess of their first innings with five wickets falling for just 34 runs as they collapsed from a position of relative strength at 203-3 to 237-8 in the afternoon.

Sri Lankan left arm seamer Ruchira Perera started the rot by dismissing Vaughan and Graham Thorpe in successive deliveries just before tea.

England started the day badly when Mark Butcher wafted at a wide ball from Charitha Buddika and Mahela Jayawardene took a superb catch at third slip.

Captain Nasser Hussain came to the crease and soon asserted his authority over the bowlers, launching Buddika for a brace of fours and hitting three more off one Nuwan Zoysa over.

And it came as a surprise when Hussain prodded stiffly at a Zoysa delivery and was caught by wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara, after putting on 106 with Vaughan.

Stewart trudges off after being run-out

Nevertheless, Vaughan appeared in total command, scoring 64 from 148 balls, including nine boundaries, before falling to a lapse of judgement.

The batsman top-edged an attempted pull off Perera to deep fine leg, where Zoysa held onto the ball despite colliding with Buddika as he took the catch.

Perera followed up his success by trapping Thorpe lbw plumb in front as the batsman played across a straight delivery on 27.

Recalled wicketkeeper Alec Stewart denied Perera his hat-trick by driving the next delivery down the ground for three, but was run-out straight after tea going for a suicidal single.

Andrew Flintoff hit some lusty blows before tickling Buddika to Sangakkara and Dominic Cork fell two balls later to the same combination.

Andrew Caddick batted sensibly with John Crawley as the pair put on 30 for the ninth wicket, but Perera eventually struck to remove Caddick.

Finally, Crawley edged Chaminda Vaas to Sangakkara, who took his fifth catch, as England subsided to 275 all out.