KEY POINTS:
If there's any justice in the world, New Zealand's batsmen would have waited hand-and-foot on their bowling teammates last night, feeding them peeled grapes, home-made chocolate and the warmest compliments they could offer.
On a day in which New Zealand took a stranglehold on the opening test against
Sri Lanka, the home side's calamitous batting lineup first conceded their strong early advantage and then watched in glee as their pacemen reclaimed the initiative.
Such was the destruction in the final session that Sri Lanka were 125 for eight in their second innings at stumps, a lead of just 73, with Kumar Sangakkara unbeaten on 63 and Lasith Malinga not out on 0, and with three more days available.
It was another clueless effort from the Sri Lankan batsmen after they were knocked over for 154 inside 53 overs on Thursday, putting paid to any slim chance they had of scrambling back into the game or applying some pressure on their hosts.
This had seemed a reasonable suggestion as late as yesterday's tea interval after New Zealand had produced a variation on their usual batting embarrassments, this time losing their middle order and tail in near-record time.
Resuming at 85 for two, the hosts lost four wickets for seven runs in the space of 20 deliveries, and only made it through to their eventual total of 206 courtesy of some desperate contributions from Craig Cumming, Stephen Fleming and Daniel Vettori.
For once, it wasn't the top order to blame but a marshmallow-like middle order, a lineup that folded meekly against the spin of Muttiah Muralitharan and the swing of paceman Chaminda Vaas to allow the Sri Lankans back into the match.
Cumming was bowled between his legs by Murali's off-spinner, Astle survived just three balls before being trapped in front by his top-spinner, and Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum were quickly undone by Vaas.
If it wasn't for Vettori's 12th test 50 and the dogged application of Fleming and Cumming, there was a strong chance Sri Lanka would have started their second innings with a slight lead rather than their 52-run deficit.
But all thoughts of New Zealand's recent batting woes were erased quickly after the tea resumption when Shane Bond, Chris Martin, James Franklin and Jacob Oram produced their second compelling performance in as many days.
At the height of the chaos, the visitors had slumped to 46 for five (still trailing by six), with all the recognised batsmen apart from Sangakkara back in the dressing room, and New Zealand sniffing a win inside two days.
Sanath Jayasuriya was unlucky to be run out by a deflection at the bowler's end, but the others had no such claims after going belly-up on a pitch that was improving for batting and arguably reaching its peak condition for the match.
Bond was in the thick of it all again, removing Upal Tharanga, Chamara Kapugedera and Charma Silva (the latter who completed his test batting responsibilities with a pair on debut); running out Prasanna Jayawardene with a direct hit from mid-wicket, and then returning to dismiss Farveez Maharoof. Franklin removed the threat of Mahela Jayawardene when he had the Sri Lankan right-hander caught at slip by Stephen Fleming, a dismissal that boosted the New Zealand skipper's career catching haul to 156, fourth equal with Allan Border in terms of the world's best. Mark Waugh leads with 181, followed by Brian Lara with 164 and Mark Taylor with 157.
All in all, 16 wickets fell yesterday, bringing the tally to 28 for the first two days.
Vettori last night unwittingly evoked the memory of England's final-day nightmare against Australia in the second Ashes test, saying he was wary of the threat of batting last against any side containing a spinner of the class of a "Shane Warne or a Muralitharan".
"They are still a threat," he said. "When you've got a Murali or a Warne in your side you're never out of the game. Those two hold the key to the majority of their team's wins so as long as Murali's still there bowling, it's going to be difficult."
But he said New Zealand would be determined to remain in control of their own fate today, rather than allowing the Sri Lankan ace to dictate proceedings. "When you're chasing small totals it's best to be positive and to try to get it out of the way as quickly as possible."
Scoreboard:
Sri Lanka First innings 154
New Zealand
First innings (overnight 85-2)
C. Cumming b Muralitharan 43
J. How lbw Malinga 0
M. Sinclair c P. Jayawardene b Vaas 36
S. Fleming c Kapugedera b Maharoof 48
N. Astle lbw Muralitharan 2
J. Oram c Silva b Vaas 1
B. McCullum b Vaas 0
D. Vettori c Jayawardene b Malinga 63
J. Franklin lbw Muralitharan 0
S. Bond lbw Muralitharan 1C. Martin not out 0
Extras (5lb, 7nb) 12
Total: (all out, 85.4 overs) 206
Fall: 1/3, 2/73, 3/106, 4/108, 5/113, 6/113, 7/188, 8/190, 9/206
Bowling: C. Vaas 18-4-49-3 (1nb), L. Malinga 19.4-2-43-2 (3nb), F. Maharoof 14-3-44-1 (3nb), M. Murailtharan 34-7-65-4.
Sri Lanka
Second innings
U. Tharanga c Fleming b Bond 24
S. Jayasuriya run out (Bond) 10
K. Sangakkara not out 63
M. Jayawardene c Fleming b Franklin 0
C. Kapugedera c Oram b Bond 1
C. Silva c Vettori b Bond 0
P. Jayawardene run out (Bond) 11
C. Vaas c McCullum b Oram 0
F. Maharoof c McCullum b Bond 7L. Malinga not out 0
Extras ( 5lb, 4nb) 9
Total (for 8 wkts, 37 overs) 125
Fall: 1/18, 2/44, 3/45, 4/46, 5/46, 6/74, 7/80, 8/99.
Bowling: S. Bond 12-3-38-4 (3nb), C. Martin 9-2-36-0, J. Franklin 7-1-17-1 (1nb), J. Oram 7-1-19-1, D. Vettori 2-0-10-0.