Tea Sri Lanka 143 for 3 (Mathews 41*, Ajaz 3-37) trail New Zealand 249 (Taylor 86, Dananjaya 5-80, Lakmal 4-29) by 106 runs

It wasn't the most exciting session of Test cricket for most parts, neither was it one where both sides conceded the advantage to the other. New Zealand kept plugging away in the hope of building pressure and keeping the scoring down to frustrate batsmen, while Sri Lanka were happy to bide their time and not commit the kind of mistakes New Zealand did on the opening day against spin, Akila Dananjaya in particular.

Then, with the tea interval four minutes away and with the confidence of a half-century behind him, Kusal Mendis did something that he so often has in his career: eliciting frustration among the fans and cricket faithfuls alike, looking to blast a delivery he just couldn't hold back, only to edge Ajaz Patel to slip. And just like that, an hour's consolidation and stonewalling that appeared to give Sri Lanka a semblance of control just crashed as they went into tea on 143 for 3, still trailing by 106 runs.

In a 20-minute passage on either side of drinks, Sri Lanka found scoring tough, scoring just eight runs in 10 overs. Mathews was meeting the ball with his full forward stride, but there was a sense that he may have been going into his shell. Then came two long-hops off Tim Southee, which he crashed for boundaries to break the shackles. The first of the two was a short ball thumped through point and the second a neat little tuck off his hips to the fine-leg boundary.

Now, all revved up, he turned ultra-aggressive when he lofted Mitchell Santner over long-off, and cleared the ropes despite not hitting it well. But by then, the stranglehold New Zealand seemed to have built around the Sri Lankans had eased.

Kusal Mendis, technically solid but often with a tendency of playing a shot too many at inopportune moments, shelved his flamboyance to dig in. He didn't score a single boundary after drinks and significantly slowed down, but at no stage showing frustration of playing a shot or two in anger, considering he started like a bullet train before lunch.

Towards the end of the session, Kane Williamson, perhaps realising the importance of this stand, brought back Trent Boult for a crack after a first spell of five overs that went for just seven. This didn't make much of a difference as he struggled to move the ball or cause much ruffle, forcing Williamson to alternate between William Somerville and Ajaz to end the session, and the move worked.

New Zealand burnt a review along the way with Kusal on 29 for an lbw appeal off Santner, with the ball appearing to have struck him outside leg. It was a review out of desperation from a side that had packed their starting XI with three spinners in the hope of the ball jumping and fizzing. While there was turn and bounce, it was consistent bounce. Their only wicket in the session was Dimuth Karunaratne, when he went back and was beaten by drift to be trapped in front by Ajaz after doing all the hard work to make 39.

In the morning, however, New Zealand unravelled dramatically in the face of an excellent Suranga Lakmal spell,. Lakmal claimed the prize wicket of Ross Taylor for 86 with his first ball of the morning, then went on to deliver a spell of 5.2 overs that yielded 4 for 15, as New Zealand lost their last five wickets for 46 runs.

Attempting a cut to a short-of-a-length Lakmal ball close to his body, Taylor supplied a straightforward edge to the wicketkeeper. Santner didn't last the first half hour either, shouldering arms to a Lakmal indipper that would have gone on to clip the stumps had it not struck pad.

With both recognised batsmen out early in the day it was up to New Zealand's tail to provide some sort of resistance, but only Boult succeeded for any reasonable length of time, hitting a six and a four on his way to 18 off 22 balls. He eventually holed out trying to hit Lakmal for another six down the ground, before No. 11 Ajaz was out lbw first ball, attempting a legside flick. New Zealand's innings was wrapped up soon after drinks.

Sri Lanka had 13 overs to bat out before lunch and, in that time, lost opener Lahiru Thirimanne, and should have lost Karuanarate as well, had Taylor held a sharp chance at slip. That chance, however, didn't prove too costly for the New Zealanders.