Tillakaratne Dilshan scored a record-breaking 193 as Sri Lanka closed in on England's first innings total of 486 on a weather-affected third day of the second Test.
The captain made the highest score by a Sri Lankan at Lord's and helped the touring side reach 372-3 before rain and bad light brought a premature end to play.
In truth, Dilshan's task was made easy by some wayward bowling from England's seamers, who fired an alarming number of deliveries down the leg side and never really built enough pressure to unsettle their opponents despite plenty of evidence that the ball was swinging under heavy cloud cover.
Just two wickets fell in 39.2 overs on Sunday, with Chris Tremlett inducing an edge from Kumar Sangakkara for 25 and Steve Finn bowling Dilshan shortly after the batsman had been rattled by a blow on the same thumb that he injured during Saturday's play.
And with Mahela Jayawardene looking in fine fettle for his unbeaten 40, Sri Lanka will be confident of moving past England's total on the fourth day and piling pressure on the hosts when they come out to bat again.
Having been put to the sword by Dilshan in the Saturday evening sun, England's seamers would have welcomed the sight of a blanket of cloud over the home of cricket.
And encouragingly, there were some early signs of movement for Tremlett as he steamed in from the Nursery End, while Finn also generated some some sideways movement, tempting Dilshan into a big swish at a ball that swung dramatically after passing the edge of the bat.
