At the stroke of Tea, with Australia still 185 runs away from winning the match, the umpires decided to take the players off for bad light and when conditions didn't improve in the evening, the play was eventually called off in the final session.
The way the Australian openers approached the chase, it came across as a statement of positive intent. However, an error of judgment by David Warner (1) led to his dismissal in Herath's first over. Warner charged down the track to flick the veteran spinner, but played for the turn when there was none and could only hear the death rattle. Usman Khawaja (18) and Joe Burns (29) allied eye-catching shots with a diet of singles and twos to rebuild the innings, but the former attempted an ill-advised slog-sweep off Perera in the ninth over and was trapped in front.
For a while, Burns's restorative knock and his timely 30-run stand with Steve Smith (26 not out) seemed to have soothed the jangling nerves in the tourists' camp. However, Burns hung back to a chinaman from Sandakan and was castled. Adam Voges was then adjudged leg-before to the 25-year-old spinner, but on review, the Hawk-Eye indicated that the ball would have missed the leg-stump and the middle-order batsman survived.
Despite the tourists slipping behind the eight ball, Smith showed resolve to steer them to Tea. The Australian skipper focused mainly on waiting for the ball to come to him to play it under his eye-line and collect vital runs for his side. His teammates need to follow in his footsteps for Australia to pull off a memorable victory on a track that is assisting the spinners.
Earlier, the pace duo of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood made an impact right after the Lunch break by knocking over Perera (12) and Sandakan (9) in a space of eight deliveries. The 25-year-old Hazlewood was rewarded for his perseverance when he pounded it on a fuller length to rap Perera's pads. After a bit of deliberation, the umpire raised his finger.
Perera, however, decided to ask for a review, but just like his colleagues, he had to make the slow walk back to the pavilion after the ball-tracker showed it was clipping the leg-stump. Australia's most insistent bowler in the second innings, Starc, then ended Sandakan's brief stay at the crease in the 89th over. It was a freakish dismissal as the tail-ender tried to evade a bumper and was hit on the thigh before it deflected to tip off the bails.
Herath (35) landed a few lusty blows to push the lead past 250 before Moises Henriques, the substitute fielder for Steve O'Keefe, pulled off a blinder at cover to bring Sri Lanka's second innings to a close.
In fact, the start of Day 4 was delayed due to rain. When play recommenced, Starc produced a top delivery to dislodge the mainstay of Sri Lanka's second innings, Mendis on 176. With the second new ball, the left-arm pacer induced an outside edge off a delivery that was slanted across Mendis.
The right-handed batsman, who played with poise and equanimity to crunch a pugnacious hundred, received a rousing reception for lifting the hosts from a precariously-placed 86 for 4 to a healthy lead. Unfortunately, another steady drizzle intervened and the umpires were forced to take an early Lunch in a pattern of play that recurred in the final session.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 117 (Dhananjaya de Silva 24; Nathan Lyon 3-12, Hazlewood 3-20, Steve O'Keefe 2-32) and 353 (Kusal Mendis 176, Chandimal 41; Mitchell Starc 4-62) lead Australia 203 (Adam Voges 47, Mitchell Marsh 31; Rangana Herath 4-49, Lakshan Sandakan 4-58) and 83/3 (Joe Burns 29, Smith 26*; Lakshan Sandakan 1-13) by 184 runs.
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