'That was a strange shot': Angelo Mathews' brain fade leaves century begging as Aussies push towards series win

Sri Lanka's veteran batter Angelo Mathews will wonder what could've been on day three after his wicket put the hosts in a precarious position at Galle.

The 37-year-old was pushing towards a century in the final session until he attempted to hit Nathan Lyon over the square leg boundary.

Unfortunately for the right-hander, his shot was straight into the wind and was caught by Beau Webster with Mathews departing for 76.

RECAP: Australia v Sri Lanka second Test, day three

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"It's a poor option," Simon Katich said on Seven.

"You can only think the Galle heat sapped him and he's just had a brain fade because that was a strange shot."

Mathews' wicket was crucial with Sri Lanka 5-198 at the time as the veteran shared a 70-run partnership with Kusal Mendis.

From there, Sri Lanka collapsed and lost another two wickets before they were 8-211 at stumps, leading by 54 runs.

The first session of the third day ended with Australia bowled out for 414 to post a lead of 157 runs.

Once again it was an awful start for Sri Lanka, with the score 3-39.

Kamindu Mendis and Mathews combined for a partnership of 42 runs before the former played a rash shot to Usman Khawaja at mid-off.

Another partnership followed between Mathews and captain Dhananjaya de Silva but Smith was in the game, taking a screamer at slip to dismiss his opposition skipper for 23.

At 5-128 it looked like Australia would push to victory on day three but the partnership of Mathews and Kusal Mendis kept the hosts alive.

Unfortunately Mathews' brain fade came at a costly time as he became Nathan Lyon's third victim.

Ramesh Mendis was out next for a duck, becoming Beau Webster's first Test wicket when bowling off-spin.

The final batter to fall was Prabath Jayasuriya who edged a Matt Kuhnemann delivery to Smith, making it stumps as Australia push towards a series victory.

"They are very, very close to wrapping up this series," Greg Blewett said on Seven.