A defiant century from Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara and two wickets in successive balls from Australian fast bowler Brett Lee combined to set the stage for a thrilling end to the second Test at Bellerive Oval.

Australia looked on course for an easy victory when Lee captured the vital wickets of opener Marvan Atapattu and captain Mahela Jayawardene after tea, before Sri Lanka staged a late fightback.

When stumps were drawn on the fourth day, Sri Lanka were 247 for three in their second innings with Sangakkara unbeaten on 109 and Sanath Jayasuriya not out 33, needing 260 more on the last day for what would be an extraordinary win.

The tourists seemed to have no real prospect of winning the match after Australia set them a daunting target of 507, but will have genuine hopes of at least salvaging a draw with the forecast of rain and the pitch still favouring the batsmen.

Their chances of holding out looked even better at tea when Atapattu and Sangakkara batted through the entire middle session, frustrating the Australians with a second-wicket partnership of 143, before Lee’s double-strike in the last session.

SCORE BOARD
AUSTRALIA (I Inngs): 542/5 decl
SRI LANKA (I Inngs): 246
AUSTRALIA (II Inngs, o/n: 111/1):
Jaques c Vandort b Malinga 68
Hayden lbw Muralitharan 33
Ponting (not out) 53
Hussey (not out) 34
Extras (NB-19, LB-1, B-2) 22
Total (for 2 wkts decl) 210
Fall of wickets: 1-83, 2-154.
Bowling: Malinga 12-0-61-1, Fernando 12-1-50-0, Muralitaharan 20-1-90-1, Jayasuriya 2-0-6-0.

SRI LANKA (II Innings):
Atapattu c Jaques b Lee 80
Vandort c sub b Johnson 4
Sangakkara (batting) 109
Jayawardene b Lee 0
Jayasuriya (batting) 33
Extras (NB-10, W-5, LB-6) 21
Total (for 3 wkts) 247
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-158, 3-158.
Bowling: Lee 16-2-40-2, Johnson 19-3-65-1, Clark 13-4-33-0, MacGill 16-0-93-0, Clarke 6-1-10-0.