Alex Hales fell agonisingly short of his maiden test century yesterday as he helped steer England to a commanding position in the third test against Sri Lanka.

The former Chesham Grammar School student fell six runs short of reaching triple figures to finish with his highest test score of 94.

Play begins at 11am today on the final day at Lords with the visitors needing 330 more runs to secure victory having ended the fourth day on 32-0.

Hales’ wicket lived a charmed life throughout the day as he reached his fifty in streaky fashion, and was handed a controversial reprieve by umpire Rod Tucker when bowled for 58.

Tucker adjudged Nuwan Prandeep to have overstepped and subsequently called a no ball only for replays to show the decision to be wrong.

Despite the slice of fortune, Hales can look back on a successful series as yesterday’s total added to scores of 83 and 86 in the first two matches of Sri Lanka’s visit.