After a day-long tug of war, where Sri Lanka and Bangladesh ran each other neck and neck, the first Test will go into day five in Galle no closer to knowing which of these sides has the edge necessary to convert a likely draw into an improbable win.

At stumps, Bangladesh lead by 187 runs with seven wickets in hand, and Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mushfiqur Rahim – both first innings centurions – are at the crease. By all intents and purposes, this should mean Bangladesh are comfortably in control – and they are…kind of.

The thing with Galle is that one tends to bring many, and there have been periods in this game where batters seemed like they could bat for days, only for that to be followed by spells where wickets fell in clusters.

This happened on the first morning, and then again on the second evening, Bangladesh losing eight wickets for 94 runs on either side of two massive partnerships worth 401 in total. Sri Lanka meanwhile seemed immune to collapses, stitching together a string of solid stands across their first innings, until this morning when they lost two wickets in the space of the first hour, and then three more in 45 minutes after lunch.

It meant that a day that had started with Sri Lanka eyeing a cheeky lead in the hope of putting Bangladesh into bat on a day five Galle surface, and maybe, possibly, perhaps instigating a final-day collapse, ended with them being bowled out for 10 runs short of Bangladesh’s 495.

It also meant that Bangladesh now control where this Test heads. A lead of 300 would seem like a minimum requirement, but they will also want to give themselves enough time to bowl Sri Lanka out – two sessions seems like the absolute minimum requirement.

But to get to such an eventuality, they might need to score at a quicker rate tomorrow morning than they have all game – but that of course means they would have to risk getting dismissed for far less than that (please refer to the bit about collapses).

As things stand, the Bangladesh batters have handled the Sri Lanka spinners and a steadily deteriorating Galle surface admirably. The delivery to dismiss Anamul Haque spun and bounced off the rough, while Shadnan Islam – following an assured 76 off 126 – had a Milan Ratnayake seamer jag back sharply from outside off to trap him plumb in front.

But in between, both Shadman and Shanto used the depth of the crease expertly. When going back, they went right back, and when coming forward they did so with gusto. Sri Lanka’s spinners for their part were perhaps guilty of a little impatience, not sticking long and persistently enough to those nagging lines around off.

That could partly be down to the success Naveem Hasan had achieved earlier in the day. After three days of batting haven, that first ball which pitched on off and spun down the right-hander’s leg stump probably seemed to Nayeem like the proverbial oasis in the desert. But so ravenous was he for more that he diligently pestered that line all morning. And he was duly rewarded when Dhananjaya de Silva tickled a sharp-turner down leg for Litton Das to grab.

He saved his best though for Kamindu Mendis, going strong on 87 and looking odds on to add to his catalogue of Test tonight, as he pulled out a classic offspinner’s dismissal. Around the wicket, drifting in, dipping on the stumps, and straightening just enough to take the edge on the forward defence.

Five balls later Nayeem had one pushed through with the arm to castle Tharindu Rathnayake. Suddenly the young Bangladesh spinner was getting the full Galle experience, the one he’d been told so much about.

Fittingly, Nayeem ended the innings, turning one sharply all around Asitha Fernando’s attempted reverse sweep, to bring to an end a spell of verve and precision. It was his fourth five-wicket haul in Tests, and as he fell to his knees on the Galle pitch in worship, you could see what it meant to him – and then his teammates, who swarmed him.

Less than an hour prior to that though, Sri Lanka were in the midst of a 79-run stand. A few minutes before lunch, Milan had lofted Taijul Islam down the ground off consecutive deliveries. Kamindu at the other end was doing Kamindu things, punishing anything that was too short or too wide. It meant even a streak of dot deliveries was inevitably punctuated with a boundary. His runs had come with minimal risk, only a missed reverse and pulled six over deep square leg offering any peril.

Sri Lanka had looked at the time to be in total control – kind of like Bangladesh do now.

Brief scores:
Bangladesh 495 and 177 for 3 (Najmul Hossain Shanto 56*, Mushfiqur Rahim 22*, Shadman Islam 76, Prabath Jayasuriya 1-48, Thrindu Rathnayake 1-51, Milan Rathnayake 1-13) lead Sri Lanka 485 in 131.2 overs (Pathum Nissanka 187, Dinesh Chandimal 54, Kamindu Mendis 87, Angelo Mathews 39, Milan Rathnayake 39; Nayeem Hasan 5-121, Hasan Mahmud 3-74) by 187 runs

[Cricinfo]