New Zealand led Sri Lanka by 127 runs with eight second-innings wickets in hand at close of play on the fourth day of the opening Test in Napier on Thursday.
The Kiwis were 64 for two when bad light stopped play to end early after bowling Sri Lanka out for 498 at tea for a first-innings lead of 63.
Opener James Marshall, playing in his second Test, followed up his first innings half-century with an unbeaten 33.
Sri Lankan paceman Lasith Malinga, whose unorthodox round-arm bowling action had troubled the New Zealand batsmen all match, dismissed Craig Cumming for 16 then trapped Hamish Marshall leg before wicket for six in the penultimate over of the day.
With only one day remaining and the pitch at McLean Park offering little assistance to the bowlers, a draw is the most likely result.
The Sri Lanka first innings fell away quickly after lunch on Thursday but not before the tourists were able to post their highest total against New Zealand, beating the previous record by a run.
They lost their last seven wickets for 91 runs after resuming on 351-3 after centuries from captain Marvan Atapattu (127) and Mahela Jayawardene (141).
Jayawardene started the day on 118 but his dismissal triggered the collapse. He and Thilan Samaraweera piled on 56 runs in the first hour to extend their fourth-wicket partnership to 122 but the runs dried up once they were separated.
Samaraweera reached his seventh Test 50 off 80 balls but was denied a hundred when Chris Martin dismissed him for 88 to snare his fourth wicket of the innings.
Left-arm paceman James Franklin also finished with four wickets, removing Jayawardene then mopping up the tail, including Rangana Herath and Nuwan Kulasekara for ducks.
"Yesterday was a fairly hard day so to get a little bit of reward today was pretty satisfying," Franklin told reporters.
"That's fairly much a batsman's paradise out there.
"It was certainly a warm day out there and we managed to get the ball into a condition which was suitable for reverse swing bowling."
Scoreboard:
New Zealand 1st innings: 561 all out (H. Marshall 160, N. Astle 114, B. McCullum 99, L. Malinga 4-131)
Sri Lanka 1st innings: (Overnight: 351-3)
M. Atapattu c Fleming b Astle 127
S. Jayasuriya lbw b Martin 48
K. Sangakkara b Martin 5
M. Jayawardene c McCullum b Franklin 141
T. Samaraweera c Fleming b Martin 88
T. Dilshan c Vincent b Martin 28
C. Vaas c Astle b Wiseman 17
U. Chandana c Martin b Franklin 19
R. Herath b Franklin 0
N. Kulasekara c Fleming b Franklin 0
L. Malinga not out 0
Extras (b-1 lb-6 nb-12 w-6) 25
Total (all out, 148.1 overs) 498
Fall of wickets: 1-95, 2-101, 3-285, 4-407, 5-452, 6-463, 7-488, 8-491, 9-497, 10-498.
Bowling: Martin 37-9-132-4 (nb-3 w-4), Franklin 32.1-8-126-4 (nb-6), Wiseman 38-7-128-1, Mills 23-6-59-0 (nb-3), Astle 18-6-46-1
New Zealand 2nd innings:
C. Cumming lbw b Malinga 16
J. Marshall not out 33
H. Marshall lbw b Malinga 6
P. Wiseman not out 0
Extras (lb-1 nb-7 w-1) 9
Total (for 2 wickets, 30 overs) 64
Fall of wickets: 1-51 2-64
To bat: S. Fleming, N. Astle, L. Vincent, B. McCul lum, K. Mills, J. Franklin, C. Martin
Bowling: Vaas 9-3-17-0 (nb-5), Malinga 8-2-25-2 (w-1), Kulasekara 7-1-14-0 (nb-2), Herath 4-2-3-0, Jayasuriya 2-1-4-0.
