Ashley Giles set the tone for another spirited revival by keeping his composure to secure a notable victory for England's spinners and increase the pressure on Sri Lanka in the deciding Test.

So far in the series, England's batsmen have claimed a slight triumph over Muttiah Muralitharan by reducing his strike rate, but their spinners have struggled to make the same impact with Robert Croft claiming only four wickets in the opening two Tests while Giles has enjoyed a solitary success.

With his long-standing Achilles problem adding to his troubles, Giles could have been forgiven for allowing his frustration to show particularly in temperatures exceeding 100 degrees.

But when the crucial moment came, a clear edge from Aravinda de Silva to Nasser Hussain at slip just before tea on the opening day, Giles shrugged off the clear misjudgement by umpire Dave Orchard when he gave the benefit of the doubt to the batsman.

Instead Giles settled down quickly and got his reward by finishing with two for 56, while spin partner Robert Croft grabbed three for 40 as Sri Lanka lost four for 14 in 79 balls during the closing stages to finish on a modest 221 for seven.

''On the back of a series when you've claimed 17 wickets, I suppose a part of you thinks you should be doing that all the time,'' conceded Giles.

''Your confidence is obviously affected when you're not taking wickets, it can get you down a little bit, but the boys have been fantastic and Crofty has come in and down well."

Had de Silva, who was then on 21, punished England more than he did by the reprieve, both Giles' and England's response may have been a little more impassioned as they seek four successive series victories for the first time since 1978.

He lasted another 24 overs, adding a further 61 runs towards a 97-run partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, but fell only 14 overs before the end by giving a leading edge to Michael Vaughan at silly point attempting to clip the ball off his legs.

His dismissal began a startling collapse by Sri Lanka on a pitch already beginning to turn and is sure to excite Muralitharan when England begin their reply.

Giles struck again four overs later, trapping Russel Arnold leg before offering no shot with Orchard sending a message out to both teams that kicking the ball away will not be an option in the final Test.

Croft, the pick of the attack for the majority of the day, finally earned his reward in the closing stages with Tillekeratne Dilshan also trapped leg before after being hit on the back leg, before an unexpected bonus when Jayawardene edged behind to wicketkeeper Alec Stewart for a superb 71 with the close only seven balls away.

The day had begun with the tourists breaking with convention by changing a winning line-up and dropping Graeme Hick for the 10th time in his career to accommodate the return of Vaughan for the first time since the memorable victory over West Indies at the Oval last summer.

Their task was made that much harder by Hussain's failure to win the toss for the third successive time in the series, although Andrew Caddick off-set their disappointment by knocking back Marvan Atapattu's leg stump with the 11th delivery of the day.

Vaughan soon justified his inclusion by catching Kumar Sangakkara when he mistimed Darren Gough's slower ball to point and Croft tempted Sanath Jayasuriya into the sort of reckless shot that has characterised his series when he drove straight to Craig White in a similar position.

''Once you get into a rhythm it's important you make the most of it and I'd have liked a couple of more wickets today,'' he added.

''The most important thing for me is the way I bowled, I felt my rhythm was good and that does your confidence no end of good.