England’s ultra-aggressive plan has backfired as Pathum Nissanka’s superb unbeaten fifty left Sri Lanka eyeing a memorable win as the third Test at the Oval headed for a dramatic finish.

Sri Lanka were 94-1 when bad light led to an early close on the third day, needing a further 125 runs to reach a victory target of 219 that would end a run of seven successive Test defeats by England.

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Dimuth Karunaratne was caught and bowled by Chris Woakes for eight when a drive ballooned off his pad.

But fellow opener Nissanka, who made 64 in Sri Lanka’s first innings, was 53 not out after completing his second fifty of the match in style when he blazed debutant left-arm fast bowler Josh Hull through the covers for a seventh four in 42 balls faced.

The recalled Kusal Mendis, meanwhile, pounced on numerous loose deliveries during an unbeaten 30 featuring 24 runs in boundaries.

That Sri Lanka were chasing over 200 to win was mainly down to Jamie Smith’s superb counter-attacking 67 that rescued England from a woeful collapse.

England, already 2-0 up in this three-match series, lost five wickets for 26 runs in slumping to 82-7.

But wicketkeeper Smith’s dashing display on his Surrey home ground helped England recover to 156 all out, although they were still bowled out in a mere 34 overs.

Smith’s innings left England, who routed the West Indies 3-0 earlier in the season, with renewed hope of a first home Test clean sweep since 2004.

Smith fell on the stroke of tea when he chipped Vishwa Fernando to short midwicket to end a brilliant 50-ball innings featuring 10 fours and a six.

Left-arm quick Vishwa Fernando, gaining prodigious swing, also captured the prize scalp of Joe Root for just 12 on his way to 3-40, with Lahiru Kumara enjoying a fine return of 4-21 in seven overs.

Both opener Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope, fresh from 154 in England’s first innings — his first Test century since taking over as captain from the injured Ben Stokes — fell for seven.

Dan Lawrence, meanwhile, produced what The Telegraph’s chief cricket writer Scyld Berry called the “wildest innings England have seen”.

A middle-order batsman by trade, Lawrence had been promoted to open this series in place of the injured Zak Crawley.

Lawrence had yet to get beyond the 30s in four previous innings against Sri Lanka and it was a similar story on Sunday when a frenetic run-a-ball 35 — England’s second-top score of the innings — ended with him caught behind off Kumara after charging down the pitch to drive.

England assistant coach Paul Collingwood BBC Test Match Special credited Lawrence for his “bravery” to “go out there and back himself” with a “really aggressive” approach.

But there were very different opinions of Lawrence’s innings from BBC’s experts, with Sir Alastair Clarkson calling it a “tough watch” at one point.

“I was frustrated with Dan Lawrence today. He’s a better player than that,” Clarkson said on BBC’s Test Match Special.

“He slogged it today, it wasn’t controlled batting. As an opener, you try to get through first five, you play the situation and make tough runs. I thought he would adapt his game well to opening but he hasn’t done that.

“When he get’s in he’s got to make it count. England are looking for quality. That wasn’t an inning of quality, it was slogging. He plays better than that and I do feel frustrated for him. Even the one he did hit for six was still a totally risky shot.”

Former England captain Michael Vaughan, meanwhile, said “something remarkable” would have to happen now for Sri Lanka to lose the Test from this point.

“I’ve got no clue what England were doing with the bat – Dan Lawrence, I suppose it was his last chance saloon, maybe he was told to go out and swing,” Vaughan said.

“It was too expansive.”

Even ex-Sri Lanka all-rounder Russel Arnold said it was “too easy” for the opposition to know what shots he was going to play.

“Whenever the ball beats the bat he looks to do something, like slog it,” Arnold said.

If there was some defence for Lawrence, it came from the Daily Mail’s Nasser Hussain, who wrote in his column that he doesn’t expect a “judgment call” to come as quickly as some expect.

“This regime of Rob Key and Brendon McCullum talk about picking players with high ceilings and he’s still someone you’d identify as having the potential for big innings,” Hussain wrote.

“Just not in that position, against the new Dukes ball nipping around in that corridor outside off-stump, in English conditions. Bowl there and he looks very vulnerable.

“So getting three starts – Sunday was his third 30-something of the series – plus three single figure contributions is not career threatening.”

It wasn’t just Lawrence anyway, with England as a whole leaning too close to recklessness instead of controlled aggression, with Nick Hoult of The Telegraph describing it as “the worst batting of the Bazball era” after losing its last 17 wickets for 220 runs.

Of course, Sri Lanka deserves plenty of credit too with fast-bowling coach Aaqib Javed telling reporters the quicks found a way to counter the England batsmen’s dynamic ‘Bazball’ approach.

“This is what their style is, being aggressive,” Javed said.

“Sometimes that puts pressure on the bowling side. The first day we didn’t do well as we missed our lines. But they learned from that and bounced back. In the second innings, they showed good character.”