Samaraweera’s third Test century this year after two monumental double centuries in Pakistan in February helped Sri Lanka pile up 452 in their first innings by tea on the rain-curtailed second day.
The Black Caps responded bravely to the challenge by going to stumps at 87 for two, with left-handed opener Tim McIntosh unbeaten on 36 and nightwatchman Jeetan Patel on six.
Martin Guptill and McIntosh raced to an opening stand of 45 in 10 overs before Guptill dragged a ball from Thilan Thushara on to his wicket after making 24.
Ajantha Mendis then bowled Daniel Flynn for 14, but Patel and McIntosh saw out the day with New Zealand still needing 166 runs to avoid the follow-on on a good batting strip.
Sri Lanka appeared to be running away with the match before the experienced Vettori stepped in to stage a New Zealand revival.
The left-arm spinner grabbed four wickets as Sri Lanka, 386-4 at one stage, lost six batsmen for 66 runs — the last four for eight runs — in a dramatic post-lunch session.
Vettori finished with 4-78 to take his career tally to 297 wickets and now needs just three more to become only the ninth player in Test history to achieve the double of 3,000 runs and 300 wickets.
Just 13 overs were bowled in the morning session after heavy rain delayed the start by two hours, and Sri Lanka moved from their overnight score of 293 for three to 328 for four by lunch.
Scoreboard
S Lanka (I Innings, O/n: 293-3)
Paranavitana c McCullum b Martin 0
Dilshan b O'Brien 92
Sangakkara c Flynn b Martin 8
Jayawardene c Taylor b O'Brien 114
Samaraweera c Patel b Vettori 159
Mathews c McCullum b Vettori 39
Jayawardene c Flynn b Vettori 7
Kulasekara c McCullum b Martin 18
Thushara c O'Brien b Vettori 0
Muralitharan c McCullum b Martin 8
Mendis (not out) 0
Extras (LB-2, B-1, W-2, NB-2) 7
Total (all out, 117.4 overs) 452
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-16, 3-134, 4-300, 5-386, 6-408, 7-444, 8-444, 9-452.
Bowling: Martin 23-5-77-4, O'Brien 21-1-125-2, Oram 7-1-25-0, Vettori 37.4-9-78-4, Patel 24-3-120-0, Ryder 5-1-24-0.
New Zealand (I Innings)
McIntosh (batting) 36
Guptill b Thushara 24
Flynn b Mendis 14
Patel (batting) 6
Extras (B-4, NB-3) 7
Total (for 2 wkts, 29 overs) 87
Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-80.
Bowling: Kulasekara 4-0-21-0, Thushara 8-1-29-1, Mendis 11-3-26-1, Muralitharan 6-2-7-0.
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