Aussies slip in last session

Hayden was trapped leg-before by Vaas, while Ponting was caught in the slips off left-arm spinner Rangana Herath. Gillespie was also held in the slips off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan off what turned out to be the day’s last ball.

Earlier, Hashan Tillakaratne salvaged his pride with an unbeaten half-century as Sri Lanka survived Gillespie’s three-wicket haul to gain a slender lead. The left-hander, under pressure to retain the captaincy after losing the series and suffering a slump in batting form, slammed a solid 74 not out to help his team post 407 in reply to Australia’s 401.

Sri Lanka were all out in the final session after resuming at 239-2.

Gillespie claimed three wickets, including two off successive balls in the day’s opening over in a superb exhibition of fast bowling on a slow pitch.

Leg-spinner Shane Warne and paceman Michael Kasprowicz grabbed two apiece, while part-time left-arm spinner Darren Lehmann got one to finish with three for 50.

Warne missed out on a chance of becoming the first bowler in Test history to claim five successive hauls of five or more wickets in an innings of the same series. The Australian spinner, with four consecutive five-wicket hauls to his credit in the past two matches, struck when Sri Lanka had already lost six batsmen.

Sri Lanka were indebted to Tillakaratne for gaining a slender advantage. The Sri Lankan captain came in to bat when Gillespie was on a hat-trick after dismissing Mahela Jayawardene at his overnight score of 29 and then Tillakaratne Dilshan off consecutive balls. He completed his first half-century of the series in style, fluently driving Warne through the covers for a boundary. He hit 10 fours in his 20th Test half-century.

Brief scores

401 and 80-3 vs Sri Lanka: 407 (M Atapattu 118, S Jayasuriya 71, H Tillakaratne 74 n.o, T Samaraweera 41, J Gillespie 3-96, M Kasprowicz 2-58, S Warne 2-115, D Lehmann 3-50)