Flower's sixth Test century carried Zimbabwe, needing 258 to avoid an innings defeat, to 235 for six before bad light ended play nine overs ahead of the scheduled close.

The Zimbabwe skipper, who was top scorer in the first innings with 74, has now scored more Test centuries for his country than any other player, passing brother Grant Flower's five.

Flower has batted 315 minutes, faced 229 balls and hit just seven fours an indication of how hard he was made to work for his runs as well as the slowness of the outfield.

Flower and Andy Whittall, who was 27 not out at the close, batted solidly in their unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 76. However, with the last recognised batsmen together and Muralitharan extracting sharp turn, the odds still favour a Sri Lankan win.

Scoreboard
Zimbabwe (1st innings): 174.
Sri Lanka (1st innings):432.
Zimbabwe (2nd innings, overnight 34-3): G Flower c Kaluwitharana b Muralitharan 13, T Gripper c Arnold b Vaas 4, M Goodwin run out (Dilshan) 48, E Matambanadzo run out (de Saram) 0, N Johnson c Atapattu b Zoysa 14, A Flower batting 107, A Campbell lbw Muralatharan 5, G Whittall batting 27, Extras (b1, lb11, nb5): 17. Total (for six wickets) 235.
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-28, 3-28, 4-51, 5-152, 6-159.
Bowling: Vaas 29-5-67-1 (nb1), Zoysa 11-2-24-1, Wickramasinghe 22-8-39-0 (nb1), Muralitharan 32-9-59-2 (nb3), Jayasuria 6-0-31-0, Arnold 1-0-3-0.