Left-arm seamer Perera was arguably the pick of Sri Lanka's attack, claiming three for 48 in 11 overs as England collapsed to 275 all out in reply to the tourists' imposing 555 for eight declared.

But his success on Saturday was marred by allegations about the legality of his action from various quarters, including Test Match Special's Jonathan Agnew.

Meanwhile, television replays ruthlessly analysed how his arm appeared to straighten just before the moment of delivery.

Yet England remained silent about the allegations with returning batsman John Crawley claiming: "It's the job of players to be players and it's someone else's job to talk about it."

Asked whether the team had discussed Perera's action in the dressing room, Crawley replied: "No", while Sri Lanka's management elected not to allow Perera to respond.

And an hour-and-a-half after play had finished for the day, the ICC confirmed the umpires had not approached match referee Gundappa Viswanath about Perera's bowling.

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Crawley, though, was prepared to expand on the mix-up with Alec Stewart which caused the former England captain to be run out during a collapse of seven wickets for 72 runs in 22 overs.

"I've batted with Alec a lot in the past but not for a while now," said Crawley. "It was one of those where we both looked at each other and went and that look was the difference between being in and out.

"Today was a huge disappointment for everybody. The guys who gave us a good start played exceptionally well - it's up to the guys who were coming in to progress the innings.

"We've not played anything near to our full potential. We're very much behind the eight-ball with two days to go but the game is still there for us to save."