England struggled to maintain momentum after taking their first wicket of the innings as Sri Lanka closed the second day of the first Test at Lord's on 140-1.
The tourists were put into bat in the afternoon session after England reached a healthy total and declared on 575-9 following a double century from Joe Root.
Dimuth Karunaratne survived two early scares before tea, but Sri Lanka's opening batsman steadied his side's attack before getting caught out by Matt Prior having taken 38 runs from as many deliveries.
After finding the breakthrough, which left the tourists on 54-1, England struggled to move on top as Kaushal Silva and Kumar Sangakkara added to Sri Lanka's chase.
England thought that they had dismissed Silva when Stuart Broad caught the batsman's edge and the ball fell into the hands of wicketkeeper Prior.
However, after a review, it appeared that the ball had touched the ground slightly before Prior grabbed it in his gloves.
Silva (62 not out) and Sangakkara (32 not out) will return to the crease at Lord's tomorrow for day three.
Sri Lanka trail by 435 runs.