Trent Boult rocked Sri Lanka with three top order wickets to put New Zealand firmly in command of the first Test in Christchurch.

The tourists were lurching at 3-38 from 18 difficult overs when lunch arrived on the second day at Hagley Oval, having earlier dismissed the Black Caps for 441.

Boult became the 13th New Zealand bowler to claim 100 Test scalps when he removed Dimuth Karunaratne for a duck on the fourth ball of the innings.

Fellow-opener Kaushal Silva (4) was trapped lbw in near-identical circumstances by a late-swinging Boult delivery four overs later.

The left-armer gained sideways movement not evident from the Sri Lankan seamers in claiming 3-11 from seven overs also bowled at good pace.

His key scalp was that of the world class Kumar Sangakkara, who ground out six off 27 balls before a thick edge carried to a diving Tim Southee at third slip to reduce the tourists to 3-15.

It left Sangakkara six runs short of becoming the fifth batsman to score 12,000 Test runs.

Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews, on 15 at lunch, had put on 23 for the fourth wicket with Lahiru Thirimanne, who was on 11.

Southee also impressed with the new ball but was unrewarded, taking 0-9 off six overs.

The pitch was offering more spice for the seamers on day two, with the tourists claiming the last three Black Caps wickets for 12 runs after they had resumed at 7-429.

Southee and Boult were both caught behind without scoring while Neil Wagner (4) cut straight to point. Mark Craig was unbeaten on 12.

Pace bowler Suranga Lakmal took the last two wickets in his 20th over to finish with 3-90, bouncing back after conceding 26 off one over to Brendon McCullum during the captain’s blistering innings of 195 on Friday.

Allrounder Mathews (3-39) claimed the best figures, including Southee’s scalp.