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That's it. England have escaped defeat, but suffered another moral defeat. Sri Lanka have won the series. For the record, England finished on 251-6, with Prior and Sidebottom unbeaten on 19 and nought respectively. See you again for the tour of New Zealand. We'll surely fare better against them.
It doesn't look. The rain has thickened and the groundsmen have now put covers over the outfield as well as the inner circle. They're also diving chest-down along the covers like kids on a slide. It looks fun.
Prior administers a couple from Murali then hits a single into the onside. Sidebottom survives the remainder including, fortuitously, a beauty that turns away from his bat to conclude the over. With the rain falling heavily, the umpires then call for the covers. The clouds are dark but they do break in the distance.
Sidebottom survives the final couple of deliveries of an excellent over from Welegedara. Better still for England is the sight of rain falling again. The groundsman have taken hold of the covers. But, yes, whatever happens now this has been a resounding moral victory for Sri Lanka.
Cook pushes at a rising delivery outside offstump and sends a thin edge to the wicketkeeper. He has batted superbly but that, alas, is a big breakthrough for Sri Lanka. England are 250-6.
Again, not out. Murali gets an edge from Prior's defensive and sparks celebrations once Mahela Jayawardena cups the ball in his hands. But the ball had hit the ground first, which makes Jayawardena's reaction a tad sneaky. But understandable, too, given the circumstances - the groundsmen are gathering again around the pitch. Two balls later, Murali hits Prior on the pads, prompting another slightly desperate appeal quickly stone-walled by Asad Rauf, the umpire. The over finished, Rauf has a word with the Sri Lanka captain possibly to reprimand him for that first appeal.
Not out. Prior misses the ball with a backward defensive but, had it not struck his pads, the ball would almost certainly have missed leg stump - despite the enthusiasm of Sri Lanka's appeal. More clouds have appeared in the distance.
Vaas attempts a short ball but to little effect and is fortunate Cook misses with an attempted swipe to the onside. Maiden, which England need to avoid less they want Sri Lanka to start building pressure.
Prior stays on the back foot fending deliveries from Murali pitching in the rough outside the right-handed batsman's leg stump. His final ball is straighter, and strikes Prior on the pads, but it turned back sharply and was certain to run past leg stump. Cook has asked for a drink between overs, but the umpires have refused presumably for fear that the batsman really just wants to wast time.
Cook defends a couple from Vaas then nudges one to mid-wicket for a single. Prior then dollies one into the air but the ball drops safely to the gap at short leg. Mahela Jayawardena responds by putting a fielder in the hole. Luckily for England, Sri Lanka have struggled to make the second new ball swing.
Right, they're back, and the skies are clear. If they hold we should have about another two and a half hours of play - it England survive. Cook hooks a short ball from Malinga to square leg, running one. Prior administers a couple to leave Cook on strike after the turnaround.
The covers have been removed from the pitch and, word from the ground, is that they hope to resume play before too long, weather permitting. In preparation, the players have taken an early tea.
There's the shower. The umpires call an end to play almost as soon as it starts. Is that the lost ball of the series? Possibly, the cloud over the ground is dark and big, but there is sunshine to one side of the ground. Stay with us for updates.
That's odd. Jayawardena replaces Malinga with Welegedara after he former had bowled only one over. He concedes three to Prior through the onside. The cloud? Even thicker. Bring on the rain.
Prasanna Jayawardena tries standing up to the wicket for a couple of deliveries, but his captain then orders him to return to a more orthodox position. Prior has now survived more than an hour, and 66 deliveries.
Malinga sends another two deliveries well outside leg stump - he has lost his radar entirely. The next a little straighter but Cook still manages to turn it to square leg. The clouds have thickened quickly on one side of the ground.
Cook turns Murali for a single, Prior then pushes one behind point for the same reward. Cook pushes the next to cover but decides against single, and then paddles one for no score. Murali follows that two slower balls that pitch well outside off stump. Cook sees both off with his pads. Hello, clouds have gathered in the distance, prompting the groundsfolk to move out around the pitch. There's hope.
Dilshan is bowling with large shin pads, presumably to repel straight drives and not to engage the opposition in a bruising kicking contest. He returns a maiden. The new ball is available but Mahela Jayawardena wants at least one more over from Murali.
Cook nudges Silva's first ball of the day to square leg, running one. Prior defends the next two - helped by having only two fielders close to the wicket - before hooking a full toss for one. Cook scores one from the final ball to retain the strike against Murali. Which is probably a good thing. That the new ball is due in four overs, though, is not.
Malinga sends an errant delivery past leg stump and concedes four byes. Prior then hits a slower ball to the rope past point off his back foot. The Sri Lankan is bowling predictably, finding gentle reverse swing with almost each delivery, and England are reading him easily.
Cook turns Murali through to midwicket and bring up his century, his seventh in Test matches and his first on his first tour with England. "Remarkable really," says Botham, a little chirpier now. Cook's seen off 227 deliveries and hit eleven fours. Only Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar scored more centuries before they turned 23, and only Javed Mianded scored as many.
Surrounded by five close-in fielders, Prior defends the first couple of Murali, and with a little comfort than in the spinner's previous over, then turns a good delivery to leg - a good shot - but gets no run. He then defends another two and allows the final delivery to turn away from his bat unhindered. Lunch.
Oh, close! Murali gets an edge from Prior but it drops just short of Mahela Jayawardena at first slip. Another delivery strikes the pad, albeit after pitching outside leg stump, while the final one turns beautifully away from the bat. Murali has found his ideal pace for the pitch and is bowling brilliantly.
Cook restores a little normality to the action by reducing Malinga to six dot balls. A welcome respite for England but one that means Prior is now on strike against Murali. Could be interesting.
What?! Bopara nudges Murali to second slip and - wait for it - starts to run only to realise that Mahela Jayawardena has the ball in his hands. He throws it back to the wicket-keeper, who does the rest. England are, um, 200-5. Bopara has gone for a pair.
Murali is completely fooled by a delivery that turns away from offspin and in the opposite direction to that which he expected. England are 2004 and in a spot of bother.
Pietersen chips a half-volley to short mid-wicket and Dilshan holds low down. England are 200-3.
Pietersen defends Murali off his back foot then kick the ball away in disdain Rain has been forecast but skies still look fairly clear from this viewpoint in east Hertfordshire . . . oh, dear . . .
Another banner has been unfurled in the crowd. This one reads, "Michael Vaughan - our most successful captain. We support you. England's Barmy Army." You presume Vaughan will welcome the sight but curmudgeon Botham says, "It's a bit like a football manager getting a vote of confidence from his chairman." Murali leaks four leg byes bowling to Pietersen before having a long leg-before appeal rejected. The England batsman was too far down the wicket for the umpire to give him out.
Pietersen runs another sprinted single, diving into his crease, to bring up his 1000th run of 2007. Only two batsman have scored more than him - and neither of them are Sri Lankan. Who are they? I missed it. Come on, it's 5.55am. Hazarding a guess, I'd say Ricky Ponting was one. Phil Mustard has arrived to solve Pietersen's problem which, in fact, was a new grip for his shaft. Yes, the shaft on his bat.
Malinga begins a new spell. Cook leaves the first as it darts away outside offstump, defends a straight delivery, leaves another and then punches one through the covers for four - his eleventh.
Vaas attempts a slower ball but instead gifts Pietersen a full toss, which he can only paddle. He berates himself furiously. He then makes a mess of a half-volley, before calling to the pavilion for - I think - new gloves. "That's right, blame the equipment," quips Ian Botham. More drinks.
Pietersen tries to sweep delivery from Murali that pitches outside offstump, but misses, drawing an unsuccessful leg-before appeal. Meanwhile, he runs a leg bye, adding to Cook's single.
Pietersen jabs Murali for two, either side of which the batsman run a single each before, Cook slashes at a delivery outside offstump and sends an edge throug the empty slip cordon. Lucky.
Pietersen pulls out of a shot from Vaas, but only at the very last moment, thus exciting fielders hoping for an edge. One from the over.
Cook hooks Vaas - who has replaced the ineffective Welegedera in the attack - to square leg for two runs. He straight bats the remainder. The opener could become the first England batsman to score a century in this series.
Cook survives a weak lbw decision from Murali and then - remarkably - hooks a doosra for four. He scores three more with a sweet drive through cover. Pietersen adds a single. Suddenly - almost depressingly - England are making batting to look easy.
Pietersen punches Welegedara past long-on for four. The England batsman is required only to survive but, not surprising, he is playing purposefully. Cook hits a single. England fans have unfurled a new banner today. It reads, '15 days of torture. Thanks for nothing, England' which is probably even worse than yesterday's banner demanding that they hang their heads in shame.
Pietersen scores two singles from Welegedara and Cook one which, added to a wide, makes it four from the over. Yet to score a half-century in this series, Pietersen is looking comfortable, and moving well within his crease - an area where he has fallen short over the past month or so. Drinks
Pietersen hits Welegedara for a single. Cook defends one then clips poor delivery off his pads to run three. Bell was unfortunate with the bounce of his wicket-delivery but he will regret not having moved on to his front foot, a basic requirement against a full delivery from Murali.
Deadly delivery. Murali hits the rough outside offstump and the ball skids through to the stumps underneath Bell's bat.
Bell hits Murali for four with handsome drive to mid-on, then sneaks a lucky single playing late on a ball that turns sharply to leg stump. Cook administers the last comfortably. It's been a solid start from England.
Sri Lanka have won the series but they will be motivated today by more than just the satisfaction gained by defeating their old imperial masters again. A win would lift them to second in the ICC Test rankings, leapfrogging South Africa, India and England, who will drop from second to fifth regardless of today's result. Bell defends three from Malinga, then scores the only run from the over.
Cook clips a poor ball from Malinga down to the fine leg boundary then works another off his legs to run one. Bell straight bats a quicker delivery from Malinga then leaves a couple.
Bell drives Malinga through the offside for four then clips one off his legs to run one. Then . . . dropped! Prasanna Jayawardena spills a straighforward catch from Cook down the legside. What a let-off for England
And welcome to OBO coverage of the final day of the final Test. England need to bat through the day to avoid defeat. The skies are clear in Galle and, after impressive work from the groundsmen yesterday's downpour, the track is ready. Join us again in a moment.
They're not coming back. The rain is bucketing down at Galle now and the groundsfolk have decided there will be no more play today, leaving Sky Sports with hours of airtime to fill but allowing this cold-ridden OBO commentator to crawl gleefully back to his duvet. Night, night, I'll see you tomorrow.
aiYup, the covers are back on, which means the scheduled restart of 10am BST might be put back even further. Bad news for devoted OBO followers but - if you look at it cynically - good news for England as they now have an excellent chance of avoiding defeat in the final Test. They might have preferred, though, to have had time at the crease to repair their badly damaged reputation.
It's actually stopped raining, and they've removed the covers, but will apparently need two hours to dry the pitch. And that's if there is no further rain. Sky have already resorted to repeating their highlights package. I'll spare you that. Join us again when - if you're in Britain - you get to work.
The rain that ended the first session early is still falling, unfortunately, so the players haven't emerged from the pavilion. Rest assured we shall keep you updated of the situation. In the meantime, you can read a report of yesterday's play here. There'll be a report on today's first session up soon, too.
There's the rain. It's falling heavily, too. The groundsmen have the covers in their hands . . . and the umpires decide to call lunch eight minutes early. It's been a decent first session for England.
Cook pushes a rising delivery from Malinga for one. Bell defends the next A unhappy Botham has identified England's critical shortcomings in this series: "The fielding has been poor. We haven't looked like taking 20 wickets. And none of the batsmen have looked like converting promising scores into big scores like Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena did." Presumably he forgot about Matt Prior's lard-fingered performances as wicket-keeper.
Cook reaches his ninth Test 50 by scoring a two and a single from Murali. It's been a good innings. He's defended well but not allowed the bowlers to build pressure, hitting seven boundaries and scoring at a run every other ball. Oh, signs of possible rain. A strong breeze has picked up and, more tellingly, the groundsmen are spreading around the periphery of the pitch, their sixth sense alerted.
Bell pushes a no ball from Murali into the offside to run two. He scores the same from a similar shot, and then straight bats a couple. Lloyd then informs his mostly British-based readers that "it's official, it's freezing back home". It's also dark, David, and early. Officially early, in fact.
Bell defends two from Vaas, sending the first two to the offside and the third to short mid-on. He plays more purposefully at the next only to find the fielder at mid-wicket. He eventually scores with a drive that the fielder at cover only partially stops, conceding one. Cook defends the last.
Murali confuses Bell with beautifully flighted delivery that forces the batsman to fend and miss outside offstump. "Ball," says Bell, paying his adversary a compliment. He scores two with a cut to deep cover, adding the two he scored earlier off his back foot. The England batsman is trying hard not to allow Murali to build pressure. Oh, the camera has just shown a blanket in the crowd bearing the message "England hang your heads in 'shame'". I don't quite understand the quotation marks but the sentiment is pretty clear. Drinks.
Cook scores one from Murali while handling four with relative ease. Bell defends the over's last, his first. Welegedera has left the field, though he didn't look injured, alas.
Vaughan drives unconvincinly at a ball outside offstump and edges to slip. You could see it coming. The England captain has struggled against the Sri Lanka debutant all morning. England are 67-1.
Murali's up. He starts by getting the faintest of outside edges from Vaughan that drops short of the slip fielder. He gets sharp turn from the next, but Vaughan cuts it away safely. He then sweeps the doosra - confident, yes; overly so, probably - and runs one. Cook then handles the last couple comfortably. Over. The first, you fear, over many more from the great man.
A long queue of Sri Lankan fans is snaking from the entrance to the stadium out into the road. After several days of poor attendances, they've arrived doubtless hoping to celebrate victory. Little do they realise that England are putting together the kind of resistance that would have made Churchill proud. Oh, Cook has just edged Vaas to the slips. Fortunately, it drops short of the fielder.
Vaughan turns Dilshan for a single, before Cook brings up the 50 partnership with an excellent drive on the full. Another 30 minutes has passed with no English wicket conceded. They've been lucky, but we'll take it.
Welegedera is bowling excellently, better certainly than either Vaas of Malinga have done today. First Cook is lucky to dig out a swinging yorker - and even more fortunate to score four - than he plays tentatively inside the line of one that moved away from. In between, he redressed the balance a little