Dinesh Chandimal piled the pressure on the West Indies on Thursday, scoring his fifth Test century and taking Sri Lanka to 344-3 at lunch on the second day of the first Test.
The middle-order batsman was unbeaten on 113 at the break as the Sri Lankans stepped up the pace after a slow first day to add 94 runs in the morning session against a tiring Caribbean attack toiling in sweltering conditions at the Galle International Stadium.
Left-handed opener Dimuth Karunaratne fell 14 runs short of a double century when he lobbed a return catch to bowler Marlon Samuels five minutes before lunch to give the West Indies some respite.
Karunaratne’s 186 came off 354 balls, with 16 fours and one six.
Chandimal built on Sri Lanka’s overnight 250-2, with his 100 coming off 196 balls.
He added 238 for the third wicket with Karunaratne, a Sri Lanka record in a home series against the West Indies, surpassing the 162 put on by Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena at Galle in 2001-02.