Cricket:Matthew Hoggard fronted a clinical display in the field as England dismissed Sri Lanka for 188 at Asgiriya.
Hoggard returned figures of 14-3-29-4, left-arm spinner Monty Panesar chipped in with three for 46 while some sound catching meant the hosts were bundled out shortly after tea on the opening day.
Panesar struck twice shortly before the second interval to wrest the advantage back England's way after Kumar Sangakkara engineered a fightback from 42 for five.
Sangakkara was denied a fourth hundred in as many Test matches, however, when Paul Collingwood intercepted a fierce drive with a stunning one-handed catch at point.
Later in that James Anderson over, a terrible mix-up between Muttiah Muralitharan and Lasith Malinga resulted in the former's run-out.
The innings ended in a flurry but England had to be patient after a successful Hoggard-inspired morning session.
Panesar ended a stubborn 106-run stand for the sixth wicket by removing Prasanna Jayawardene and followed up by prising out Chaminda Vaas shortly before tea.
He then completed his treble when Dilhara Fernando gloved low to gully, where Michael Vaughan scooped up the catch, diving forward.
Thirty-year-old Hoggard, who claimed eight wickets in the victory over a Sri Lanka Board President's XI earlier this week, provided captain Vaughan with the control he craves in these conditions.
And, despite the good surface, it was combined with a serious threat as aerial and seam movement accounted for four of the top six.
Although Mahela Jayawardene chose to bat, it would not necessarily have discouraged Vaughan given England's history here — their three previous Test victories on the island came against the toss.
England, who handed a Test debut to Essex all-rounder Ravi Bopara, were given a dream start by Kevin Pietersen's fine diving catch in just the third over.
Veteran left-hander Sanath Jayasuriya drove loosely at a Ryan Sidebottom delivery and Pietersen clawed the ball down diving to his right.
It sparked jubilant celebrations among Vaughan's team but not as quirky as Hoggard's in the 10th over when Michael Vandort chipped to mid-on.
Lanky left-hander Vandort checked a drive which looped to Vaughan; Hoggard responded by pretending to rock a baby, perhaps in tribute to his six-month-old son Ernie.
But it was after the drinks break that Hoggard excelled as a spell of three wickets in 12 deliveries left Sangakkara with only the lower order for company.
Curving the ball through the air and hitting the seam on the pitch, Hoggard removed Sri Lanka captain Jayawardene, Chamara Silva and Jehan Mubarak, all to straightforward catches for wicketkeeper Matt Prior.
Jayawardene nicked the first ball of the second hour, Silva fell in the same manner to a beauty and left-hander Mubarak was drawn to one outside which left him outside off-stump.
Sangakkara struck the ball crisply, however, and got to another half-century from 80 deliveries when immediately after firing James Anderson for four down the ground, he clipped two to fine leg.
Since relinquishing the wicketkeeping gloves to Prasanna Jayawardene 18 months ago, Sangakkara averages 160 in eight Tests, including six hundreds, three of them in excess of 200.
And he was proving difficult to remove once again, although left-arm spinner Panesar believed he had his man twice in the 37th over of the innings.
Panesar was animated on two occasions, appealing for lbw, the second shout coming from a ball which spun viciously and hit the back pad of Sangakkara, who was not playing a stroke and probably reprieved on height by umpire Aleem Dar.
Panesar was extracting plenty of turn from the Hunnasgiriya end but it was a stroke off the full face of the bat which resulted in the breakthrough.
Prasanna Jayawardene turned one to the leg-side, shortly after bringing up an 84-ball 50, only to be well held at short-leg by Alastair Cook.
Then, on the stroke of tea, another ripper from Panesar, defeated an attempted cut from Vaas to clip the off-bail.
It was a short initial involvement for Vaas, playing his 100th Test, and left England in with a chance of dismissing the Sri Lankans inside a day.
Bopara, 22, was preferred to Owais Shah in the number six position after impressing in the five-wicket victory over a Sri Lanka Board President's XI earlier this week. Bopara was handed his cap by England captain Vaughan, on the outfield, after the toss took place.
Sri Lanka's decision to bat meant the Kandy crowd were made to wait to see Muralitharan's quest to take the five wickets required to surpass Shane Warne's record tally of 708.