The hosts were 84-3 at lunch and then 206-6 after tea before Tillakaratne Dilshan (63) and skipper Hashan Tillakaratne (45 not out) steadied the innings with their solid knocks on a slow turning pitch.

Left-arm spinner Giles, who grabbed eight wickets in the drawn opening Test at Galle, continued to relish bowling on Sri Lankan pitches as he claimed three victims at crucial stages to keep pressure on the hosts.

Dilshan was the first batsman to counter Giles, celebrating his recall to the Test side after more than two years with his second-highest score in 11 matches. His highest was an unbeaten 163 in Zimbabwe in 1999.

The middle-order batsman, who played his last Test in March 2001, put on 103 for the fourth wicket with Mahela Jayawardene (45) and hit 10 fours in his 94-ball knock before gloving a catch in the slips off seamer Andrew Flintoff.

The Sri Lankan captain then shared a 64-run stand for the seventh wicket with Chaminda Vaas (32), who was trapped leg-before by seamer James Kirtley (2-75) bowling with the second new ball in the closing overs.

England struck just when the Sri Lankan batsmen appeared to build sizeable partnerships, with Giles showing the way with the dismissal of left-handed opener Sanath Jayasuriya (32) in the morning session.

Jayasuriya put on 56 for the second wicket with Kumar Sangakkara (34) before the tourists hit back, reducing the hosts from 76-1 to 84-3 in the space of six overs.

Sangakkara was run out following a mix-up with Jayasuriya after hitting six fours in his 49-ball knock. Jayasuirya himself did not last long, caught behind off Giles on the stroke of lunch.

Dilshan kept his end intact for

more than a session, hitting handsome strokes in front of the wicket during his stand with Jayawardene before England bounced back again with three wickets for 19 runs.

Giles broke the stubborn partnership when he had Jayawardene caught top-edging a sweep by Kirtley at long-leg.

Flintoff removed Dilshan and Giles trapped Thilan Samaraweera (three) leg-before with an arm ball to send the hosts reeling at 206-6.

Tillakaratne then found a gutsy partner in Vaas to thwart England's fightback in the closing session to sustain his team's hopes of posting a challenging total after winning the toss.

Sri Lanka lost opener Marvan Atapattu in the day's seventh over, trapped leg-before by Kirtley shuffling across after being twice rapped on the pads in the same over.

England made two changes from the team that played the first Test, including a fit-again Nasser Hussain and Kirtley in place of fast bowlers Matthew Hoggard and Richard Johnson.

Sri Lanka brought in Dilshan for leg-spinner Upul Chandana.