Moeen Ali dismissed both openers to help put England on the way to a series whitewash on day three of the third Test with Sri Lanka in Colombo.
The Worcestershire all-rounder shared the new ball on a wearing track after Sri Lanka had been sent a 327 target.
He quickly made an impact in picking up the wickets of Danushka Gunathilaka and Dimuth Karunaratne inside his first six overs.
Gunathilaka (6) was undone by a ball spinning away which he edged to Ben Stoke at first slip.
Karunaratne on 23 was then given out lbw only to successfully review the decision with the ball grazing the bottom of his bat as he went for a sweep shot.
But in the same over, and without addition to his score, Karunaratne pushed forward, left a gap between bat and pad and was bowled by Moeen.
Moeen bowled one more over and finished the day with figures of 7-1-16-2 as Sri Lanka closed on 53-4.
The 31-year-old has now taken 16 wickets in the series.
Moeen had earlier made 22 useful runs batting at number seven, to add to his 33 in the first innings, before he was well caught at first slip off Lakshan Sandakan out of England’s 230.
