England must find another 229 runs to claim victory from their opening Test match against Sri Lanka in Galle.
Earlier in the day England saw off the five remaining Sri Lakan wickets for a score of 214.
Graeme Swann was the pick of England's bowling attack, claiming six wickets for the expense of 82 runs.
That left the tourists requiring a target of 340 to win the first Test of a two-match series.
Their reply in the final session got off to a bad start when Alastair Cook was caught by Prasanna Jayawardene for 14 runs.
Cook's fellow opener, captain Andrew Strauss, soon followed the Essex batsman back to the pavilion when his wicket was taken by spin-bowler Rangana Herath for a score of 27.
Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen steadied the innings with scores of 40 and 29 not out respectively as the visitors ended day three 111-2.
