'I'd love to say I parried it' - Keaton Jennings plays down role in excellent Karunaratne dismissal

At 106/3 and in pursuit of 301 for victory, Sri Lanka were just beginning to settle into their innings and Karunaratne was cruising nicely on 57. He then went to paddle Adil Rashid, and Jennings, at short-leg, managed to divert the ball via an outstretched palm to Foakes, covering ground to his left and showing excellent reactions, breaking a burgeoning partnership of 77 in the process.

Jennings, who was imperious in the short-leg position, and also took a brilliant catch to dismiss Dhananjaya de Silva, described how the Karunaratne dismissal unfolded, "I saw him going down to paddle and just kind of set of running. He got a little bit too much bat on it and it just ended up at me.

"I’d love to say i parried it to Foakesy (Foakes) but I genuinely tried to catch it and it hit me kind of hard and went straight off to Foakesy."

Following Karunaratne's departure, Angelo Mathews went on to make a valiant 88, but England regained momentum late on in the day, with Moeen Ali pinning Mathews LBW before Dilruwan Perera fell on the last delivery just as rain halted play prematurely. Jack Leach had done the bulk of England's bowling work, notching figures of 4/73.

Jennings praised his side's performance with the ball. "I think generally what we’ve down well is we’ve been really patient and haven’t tried to go searching too much," he remarked, before going on to commend the efforts of the Sri Lankan batsmen.

"At times Angelo (Mathews) and Karunaratne played really well, it was tough to hold them down. Roshen (Silva) as well, it was really tough to hold and contain them."

Sri Lanka will resume day five on 226/7, requiring a further 75 runs for victory.