Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara was pleased with his team's all-round effort which helped secure victory over New Zealand.

New Zealand, resuming on the final day at 30 for one, needed 383 more runs for an unlikely victory in the first Test at Galle.

However they were instead bowled out for 210 just before tea as Sri Lanka took a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series.

Left-arm fast bowler Thilan Thushara set the tone with an outstanding spell in the morning, giving the home side crucial early breakthroughs with the wickets of Martin Guptill (18) and Tim McIntosh (0).

Muralitharan stars in Sri Lanka win

Part-time bowler Mahela Jayawardene then dismissed Ross Taylor (16) before master spinner Muttiah Muralitharan picked up three wickets to finish as the pick of the bowlers.

Muralitharan had claimed four wickets in the first innings and his three in the second came at a cost of 88 runs from 27 overs.

The victory marked a fine turnaround for Sri Lanka who had been reduced to 16 for two within the first half-hour on the first day.

Makeshift opener Tillakaratne Dilshan, however, rescued the home side with a blistering 92 which he followed up with an unbeaten 123 in the second innings.

Dilshan came in for special praise from Sangakkara.

"We had three very good individual performances with in the batting department," Sangakkara said.

"Dilshan batted magnificently in both innings and he really put us back on top and took the game away from the Kiwis after we lost those early wickets on the first day.

"Mahela batted beautifully again and Samaraweera (both scored centuries in the first innings) showed his class again.

"He has put in a lot of hard work to get where he is and it's showing. The bowlers, especially the pacemen who had to work really hard, were fantastic."

Sangakkara admits it is not hard to lead

Sangakkara admitted it was not hard to lead a team with such a wealth of talent.

"When the side is playing so well, you really don't have to make any tough decisions. It's just made for you," he said.

"You throw the ball to someone and they always respond. Once the Kiwis negotiated an over from Muralitharan, they have Ajantha Mendis to contend with from the other end."

Sangakkara's decision to bowl Jayawardene ahead of Muralitharan and Mendis had been a master-stroke, but the Sri Lankan captain was not surprised by the result.

"With a decision like that, it either goes your way or it doesn't," he said.

"You either give away a few boundaries trying to get a wicket or the batsman relaxes a bit and somehow or other you turn up with a wicket.

"Mahela did just that and Taylor was strangled down the leg side which isn't the best way to get out.

"It was an important wicket, but Mahela has bowled for us in the past so it wasn't strange for him to get a wicket for us."

"Dilshan took the game away from us"

New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori put the difference in the two sides down to Dilshan's batting.

"If you look back through this Test match, we weren't as effective as we could have been on that first morning," Vettori said.

"We won a good toss and we made some inroads, but I think the way they batted, particularly the way Dilshan batted, it took the game away from us and it was the difference in both innings between the sides."

Looking at positives, Vettori was pleased with the way his batsmen had played Muralitharan and Mendis.

"I'm pretty pleased with the way we played their two spinners, Muralitharan and Mendis," he said.

"All the talk coming into this Test match was about what quality bowlers they were.

"And they certainly are, but I think a lot of our guys coming up against them for the first time played them really well and it was pleasing moving forward to the second Test coming in Colombo."

Several of the Black Caps were laid low by food poisoning during the Test, but Vettori is confident he will have a full squad to choose from by the time the second Test begins in Colombo next week.

Vettori explained: "We've had nine of our guys go down with food poisoning and over the next couple of days I suppose they will get their energy back so that we have a full squad to pick from in the next Test match. I'm pretty confident of it."