The tourists’ evergreen spinner Rangana Herath took some punishment from Moeen in particular as he conceded 116 runs in pursuit of his 300th Test wicket.
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James Anderson then made an early breakthrough to leave Sri Lanka 32 for 1 and with a huge task ahead to salvage something from the match.
A dominant England reduced Sri Lanka to 91-8 in reply to their 498-9 declared, with Chris Woakes taking three wickets on his return to the side.
At times it was so embarrassing that Sri Lanka’s batsmen looked like they were being bamboozled by black magic instead of a swinging red leather ball.
By the close of play on the second day of this Investec Second Test, the tourists were 91-8 – and England now look certs to maintain their flawless five-day record at the Emirates Riverside.
Alastair Cook, now 31 years and 154 days old, has amassed 9,995 runs in 128 matches that include 28 centuries and 47 half-centuries.
Sri Lanka needed to produce a much sterner performance in the batting after the debacle at Headingley, but failed to do so as their top order collapsed once again.
England duly moved on to 160-2 as the typically busy Root and Hales prospered, but the latter – spilled by Karunaratne on 75 – fell victim to another superb catch as Mathews dived to his right at slip in the first over from recalled all-rounder Milinda Siriwardana (2-35).
In fact Nick Compton’s batting failure was the only blot on a pretty impressive England copybook so far and could see him left out of the Lord’s Test if the selectors have the courage to give someone like Durham’s Scott Borthwick another go.
Only the weather can stop Cook’s men from inflicting a second successive innings defeat and a series defeat.
But such was England’s dominance against an attack where four bowlers conceded more than 100 runs each, No.11 Anderson got off the mark by reverse-sweeping Herath for four.
Kusal Mendis’s second-innings fifty was a rare highlight but with more grey skies promising to aid the quicks, the tourists are set for another hard match. Attempting to clip Broad through the leg side, Sri Lanka’s No3 misjudged the stroke and might have been caught at straight midwicket.
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Woakes took nine for 36 in his most recent match for Warwickshire. In between those wickets, Broad had Silva caught behind. He was dropped by Siriwardene at deep square off Eranga, but by then he had crossed his hundred – a landmark that had evaded both Alex Hales and Joe Root on the opening day.
