England still targeting innings victory - Finn
England lead Sri Lanka by 88 runs after the tourists were forced to follow-on during day three of the second Test.
Sri Lanka closed the third day on 309-5, still trailing England by 88 runs and face a tough mission to escape without defeat.
Carefree Moeen Ali will carry on attacking, after his free-flowing second Test century put England in position to push for a series-sealing victory at Chester-le-Street.
Mathews then clipped Stuart Broad through mid-wicket for four and cut him to the point rope before he took the tourists to 150 with a slogged six off Ali.
In a cruel hour after lunch for Sri Lanka, Moeen hit 57 of the 76 runs from 13 overs - and by the time England were done, he had 17 fours and two sixes.
At tea, Sri Lanka were 32 for one in reply, a deficit of 466 runs, after Dimuth Karunaratne was bowled round his legs by James Anderson.
“It was short and a little bit wide, and I guess maybe the adrenaline got the better of me - and I tried to lamp it for four when I should have stayed on the shot and taken the single”.
Jake Ball, the highly-rated Nottinghamshire quick who has been compared to his county team-mate Broad, is patiently waiting for his chance after being named in the squads for the first two Tests against Sri Lanka.
It was reward for a hard-working spell, and England’s collective efforts, as Sri Lanka at last produced a worthwhile rearguard after collapses here and at Headingley last week.
Sri Lanka had at least stopped the rot after becoming the first side since New Zealand in England back in 1958 to be bowled out for under 120 in three successive Test innings following their 101 first time around in this match.
In fairness to Finn, he was the player that broke Sri Lanka’s fourth-wicket resistance, although Silva’s departure for 60 owed as much to the batsman’s unexpected loss of composure as to anything that came out of the bowler’s hand.
Moeen made his name as a top-order batsman with Worcestershire, but has been deployed primarily as an offspinner by England, often batting at No. 8.
311 Runs scored by Sri Lanka at an average of 10.37 in their first three innings of this tour. The first was Mathews who was caught behind but having failed to review an lbw that would have been overturned last week, he opted to take his chance with Hotspot this time.
He could neither pull nor cut as the ball got “big” on him and spooned a simple catch to cover. He also had an adventure with the bat, scoring a fifty when Sri Lankan middle had a crisis situation against the home team.
Joe Root was unsure whether an edge off Anderson had reached him at second slip so umpire Aleem Dar, who has had an outstanding match, gave not out as his “soft” decision before calling on TV official Rod Tucker for confirmation.