A Kevin Pietersen century put England firmly in control of the second Test as Sri Lanka were reduced to 86-4 in their second innings at Edgbaston on day two.
The tourists were still 68 runs away from making England bat again after Pietersen's 142 had led the home side to 295, a first-innings lead of 154.
Matthew Hoggard and Monty Panesar did the damage in Sri Lanka's second innings, taking two wickets each.
Muttiah Muralitharan had earlier taken 6-86 for Sri Lanka.
Pietersen was the first England player since Graham Gooch in 1990 to hit three tons in successive home Test innings.
But England's first-innings lead should have been considerably larger, their last five wickets falling for just five runs.
Friday's play started 80 minutes late because of morning rain, but Pietersen wasted little time in stamping his authority on the game.
"The best form of defence in my case is to take it to the bowlers "
Facing Muralitharan's first ball, he sent it scudding through the covers for four as England moved ahead of Sri Lanka's 141 all out with only three men down.
A straight drive off Chaminda Vaas brought Pietersen four more before he swept Muralitharan for another boundary to become the first man in the match to pass 50.
Muralitharan appealed vehemently for lbw with Pietersen on 55, but replays showed the ball may have been passing fractionally over the stumps.
England lost night-watchman Hoggard, who was bowled by a Vaas yorker after contributing two runs to a partnership worth 44.
But they continued to dominate, Pietersen and Paul Collingwood putting on 69 for the fifth wicket.
Collingwood contributed 19 to the cause while Pietersen played some inventive drives off Nuwan Kulasekara and Farveez Maharoof.
He reached his century with a typically wristy on-drive for four before hitting Kulasekara into the Hollies stand for six over wide mid-on.
Collingwood gloved Muralitharan to short leg before Andrew Flintoff played a similarly quiet foil to the free-scoring Pietersen.
The South African-born number four hit three fours in as many balls off Murali and fashioned a remarkable reverse sweep for six before finally falling lbw to the same bowler.
Without Pietersen at the helm, England were suddenly rudderless.
Flintoff was bowled by Lasith Malinga before Liam Plunkett and Geraint Jones gifted Murali two more wickets with gentle lobbed catches to the in-field.
Panesar was last man out, lbw to Malinga on the stroke of tea.
If the mood in the England camp was a little bit down at that point, they quickly re-established their supremacy immediately after the break.
Upul Tharanga, dismissed for a duck in the first over on Thursday, again fell to Hoggard without troubling the scorers.
This time, expecting a ball swinging back into him, he played inside the line and edged to Jones.
The next man to go was Kumar Sangakkara, who was looking untroubled on 18 when he advanced down the wicket to Panesar and inexplicably lobbed a catch to midwicket.
Hoggard then got a ball to keep low on Mahela Jayawardene to leave Sri Lanka 43-3, still 111 behind.
Jones missed an opportunity to catch Thilan Samaraweera off Panesar as the slow bowler continued his excellent spell.
But he stumped the same batsman not long afterwards.
Michael Vandort, who had been there from the start of Sri Lanka's innings, was unbeaten on 30 at stumps, with Tillakaratne Dilshan 21.