But it was Herath’s seventh over of the innings which proved decisive as he dismissed Adam Voges, Peter Nevill and Mitchell Starc off consecutive deliveries to put Austraila on the mat.
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Paceman Vishwa Fernando made a memorable test debut for Sri Lanka, opening the attack and dismissing Joe Burns for nought with his second delivery.
Only one other Sri Lankan had ever taken a Test hat-trick: Nuwan Zoysa, who achieved the feat against Zimbabwe in Harare in 1999-2000.
He hit Starc on the pads with his next delivery and Sri Lanka eventually chose to review the not-out call.
Mendis added 67 with Mathews before being caught behind by Peter Nevill.
Mathews came to the crease with a positive mindset as he made the reverse-sweep his stock shot against the offspinner Nathan Lyon, who bagged two wickets on a track that spun from the off.
“That wicket is pretty flat”. It’s got no pace in it.
Herath now holds the mantle of the oldest player ever to take a hat-trick in the test cricket arena.
“He (Mendis) backs himself and can be aggressive when he wants to and I think we changed our game plan a little from that first Test and he still batted quite well today”. Within seven balls not only was Smith dismissed but so was his partner Usman Khawaja, and Australia’s collapse had begun.
After Herath’s heroic the Sri Lankan team wrapped up Australia’s first innings at 106 in 33.2 overs.
“It’s going to take lot of spin”.
“(It) would be nice to go into stumps one down, to be honest.
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Debutant spinner Jon Holland trapped Dhananjaya de Silva (37) to claim his maiden Test wicket, while Starc notched a five-for by rattling the stumps of Rangana Herath (16) and Lakshan Sandakan (14) to finish off the hosts’ first dig.
