Sri Lanka's first task will be to minimise any damage as they negotiate the last 13 overs of day three. Their only sources of succour at the moment must be the forecast of rain on day five, and the pitch, which has flattened out considerably since the first morning.
Overshadowed by Williamson for much of the second day, Latham eased himself into the spotlight with a classic Test-match innings that turned a strong position at the start of the day into an unassailable one by the time New Zealand were bowled out.
There were three distinct phases to his batting on day three. While quick to put away anything loose, he was largely watchful in the first session, often leaving good-length balls inches wide of off stump, even when Suranga Lakmal was angling them into him from round the wicket. After lunch, as the double-hundred neared, he gathered his runs unobtrusively against well-spread fields, scoring at a strike rate of nearly 56 even while only hitting two boundaries in the session. Then, post-tea, with the lower order for company, he widened his range of shots to score his last 40 runs off only 38 balls.
The day began brilliantly for Sri Lanka, with Dimuth Karunaratne's stunning reflex catch at short leg sending back Ross Taylor in the first over of the morning, fast hands somehow intercepting a full-blooded flick near his left shoulder.
That, though, was Sri Lanka's only success of the session, as Latham and Henry Nicholls settled in calmly on a pitch that had flattened out considerably since the first morning. The only moments of anything approaching panic came when the unflagging Lahiru Kumara found the edges of both batsmen - Latham first, then Nicholls - with his extra bounce in his second spell of the day. The match situation, however, limited the number of catchers Sri Lanka could employ behind the wicket. The first edge flew through the vacant gully region, which prompted Dinesh Chandimal to move his second slip there, and the second edge promptly shot through the newly created gap.
Latham, certainly, had earned the right not to have an extra man in the cordon. He was batting on 136 when he played that uncharacteristic jab away from his body, and until then had been inch-perfect with his judgment outside off stump.
This didn't mean Latham didn't pounce when the quicks overpitched, even marginally. His driving - always meeting the ball right under his eyes, with a punchy, full-faced finish - was a feature of the morning's play, particularly to the right of mid-off. He kept finding that gap with such regularity that Sri Lanka eventually stationed their extra-cover straighter, almost as an auxiliary mid-off.
At the other end, Nicholls carried on the form he had shown during his triumphant tour of the UAE, chugging along at a 60-plus strike rate and looking Latham's equal at driving off the front foot. His favoured area, however, was straight back past the bowler - three of his boundaries came in that direction, two off the quicks and one after a foray down the wicket to Dilruwan Perera's offspin. There was also a withering pull shot off Kumara, a strong roll of the wrists ensuring the ball stayed down despite being met above shoulder height.
Nicholls fell near the start of the second session, soon after reaching his half-century, holing out to long-on while trying to go after Dilruwan. Kumara then sent back BJ Watling for a duck with a well-directed short ball that the batsman popped to the keeper, ducking awkwardly with eyes off the ball. The fifth-wicket stand between Watling and Latham was the first sub-50 partnership of the innings.
Sri Lanka could have had another soon after when Colin de Grandhomme edged a flashing drive off Dilruwan, but Karunaratne didn't react quickly enough at gully as the ball flew past his left hand. De Grandhomme would go on to clatter 49 off 53 balls, pulling Kasun Rajitha for three big sixes, and adding 73 at close to five an over with Latham.
