Hoggard produced a superb spell of swing bowling in the morning

"We have been accused in the past of not hitting the ground running and having to play catch-up," he said.

"The 'bouncebackability' word has been bandied about but we wanted to be right on the button from ball one."

Under former coach Duncan Fletcher, England were often accused of being under-prepared for the start of series.

Interview: England bowler Matthew Hoggard

But, in Peter Moores' first Test in charge overseas, they were impressive from the off as Hoggard took 4-29 to bowl the home side out for 188.

"This shows we've all hit form, put the hard work in under the new management and put Sri Lanka under pressure," said Hoggard.

There's a small window of opportunity while the ball is swinging to take wickets Matthew Hoggard

Although Kumar Sangakkara (92) and Prasanna Jayawardene (51) mounted a recovery after Hoggard's early burst, spinner Monty Panesar (3-46) helped finish the hosts off.

"We said the night before that it was a good toss to lose - history shows the first innings here is the lower-scoring of the two, so we weren't too bothered," Yorkshire star Hoggard explained.

"They got a good partnership going but I thought our bowlers stuck to the task magnificently well.

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"If you'd said at the beginning that we would lose the toss and be 150 behind with one wicket down we would have taken it.

"We've got a good start and it's now up to us to make sure we follow it through and get a big first-innings total."

Hoggard, who bowled a marathon 10-over stint in the morning, celebrated his successes by cradling an imaginary baby, which he said was a reference to his six-month old son Ernie.

Of his heroics, he added: "It's amazing what wickets do for your energy levels. There's only a small window of opportunity while the ball is swinging to take wickets."

We could have got our individual gameplans a bit better out there Kumar Sangakkara

Sangakkara fell just short of a fourth century in as many Tests, continuing the purple patch he experienced in Australia.

He admitted Sri Lanka had been well below par and needed a strong showing on day two.

"I thought the wicket was very good, Hoggy bowled well at the start, he put the ball in the right areas and got the ball moving just enough to take the edges," Sangakkara said.

"We could have got our individual gameplans a bit better out there.

"We've just got to learn from this, move on quickly, and bowl England out for as few as possible."