Sri Lanka need 90 runs with five wickets in hand on the final day of the second Test to complete the biggest fourth innings run chase in their history and seal the series against South Africa.

Set 352 to win after Muttiah Muralitharan equalled one of his world records in bowling out the tourists for 311, the hosts reached 262 for five at the close of play on day four.

Meanwhile Chris Read justified his contentious England recall by contributing a crucial half-century to set up another final-day thriller at Headingley in the third npower Test.

The Nottinghamshire wicketkeeper, brought in from the cold after an absence of two years because of his failure to contribute runs at number seven, hit a vital 55 to help set Pakistan a challenging victory target of 323.

Read’s defiant 128-minute innings, which followed a fluent 116 from captain Andrew Strauss, helped England add 44 runs for the final three wickets before being dismissed for 345 to leave Pakistan chasing history to claim victory.

Apart from Don Bradman’s Invincibles in 1948, who scored 404 for three, and England’s Mark Butcher-inspired 2001 Ashes team who reached 315 for four, no other team has scored over 300 in the fourth innings to win a Test at Headingley.

But without 27-year-old Read’s crucial intervention, Pakistan, who failed to score in the only over available before the close, would have had a far easier target after they mounted a stirring post-lunch fightback.