Jonny Bairstow made the most of his good fortune to bail England out with his third Test century against Sri Lanka at Lord’s.
Bairstow finished the day unbeaten on 107 but was dropped on 11 and had a mighty close call for lbw against the unlucky Shaminda Eranga on 56.
However, the force is with him, and he continued his prolific form of the past 12 months to finish with his maiden hundred at HQ in a total of 279 for six.
England badly needed his runs, and those of captain Alastair Cook - who made 85 - having lost four wickets for 28 and appeared in danger of missing an obvious opportunity after choosing to bat first in ideal conditions.
They faltered to 84 for four, and would have been 102 for five had Eranga taken the straightforward chance chipped to midwicket by Bairstow off Nuwan Pradeep early in the afternoon.
The wicketkeeper-batsman left those fault lines behind, though, with 13 fours in his 160-ball hundred to put England in a position from which they can still hope to complete a 3-0 Investec Test series whitewash.
They lost Alex Hales, Nick Compton and Joe Root in the space of five balls to Suranga Lakmal, before James Vince departed too in an unexpected blip following an opening stand of 56.
There was no encouragement for Sri Lanka’s bowlers in the first hour of an increasingly sunny morning.
But the miserly Angelo Mathews brought himself on in an early holding role, and four straight maidens were enough for Hales to succumb.
He had gone 22 balls without scoring when he aimed a slog-sweep at the second delivery he received from Rangana Herath and edged a sharp catch to Mathews at slip in the spinner’s first over.
It was the fourth time in as many innings so far this summer that Hales has dealt with Sri Lanka’s seamers only to then fall to left-arm spin.
While he has runs in the bank, from the back-to-back wins at Headingley and Chester-le-Street, Compton badly needed a score on his home ground to re-establish his credentials.
It was not to be.
He could muster only a scampered single from 11 balls faced, before Lakmal found some late movement down the slope from a full length to have him caught-behind.
England’s incumbent number three may be running out of chances to cement his place, following his return to Test cricket last winter.
Worse was to follow for England, Root toppling over in search of runs off his pads and lbw - after a successful review - as Lakmal made his second spell count.
Vince, yet to get a proper start in his maiden series, soon went too - in a state of confusion after Pradeep took one up the slope to beat him on the back foot and dislodge the off-bail.
Cook appeared well on his way to a 29th Test hundred, in a stand of 80 with Bairstow, until Pradeep angled one into him from round the wicket to trap him and put England back in trouble at tea.
Bairstow then had two more close calls against Eranga.
He was reprieved when a review for lbw depicted a delivery that hit him on the back leg also clattering into leg-stump, but not quite blatantly enough to avoid umpire’s call; then two balls later, an inside-edge for four was barely an inch from a chop-on.
The wily Herath returned with an arm-ball to have Moeen Ali well caught at slip by Mathews.
But on a day when England made almost all their own trouble, Bairstow completed his century just before stumps in an unbroken half-century partnership with Chris Woakes.
It was personal retribution, at the ground where Bairstow fell five short of three figures for the first time in Tests against South Africa four years ago.
For England, it was a little more than they perhaps deserved to finish in the marginal ascendancy after a patchy collective performance.
Cook received a full-size silver bat, engraved with all his Test innings, in a presentation from the England and Wales Cricket Board before the start of play to mark his achievement as the first player from his country to reach 10,000 Test runs.
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