KEY POINTS:
It would have qualified as cricket's equivalent of a firestorm had Sanath Jayasuriya's punishing assault not been stymied by a rainswept southerly at Westpac Stadium in Wellington tonight.
The Sri Lankan masterblaster, who had looked all of his 37 years during the two test series against New Zealand, stepped back in time to his vintage 1996 World Cup form with a blistering unbeaten 51 off just 23 balls.
There is no knowing how long his innings would have lasted but it had the desired result regardless.
When the game was abandoned less than six overs into Sri Lanka's chase for 163, Jayasuriya's power hitting ensured the tourists' won the first of two Twenty20 internationals by 18 runs on the Duckworth Lewis system.
Jayasuriya uncorked a full array of shots to plunder 10 boundaries and a towering six.
He reserved his most significant attack for what was the last over of the contest - carving 18 off five balls from Andre Adams to ensure Sri Lanka were well ahead of the required rate when the covers were summoned and a hardy crowd headed to exits.
The Sri Lankan opener, a veteran of 370 one-dayers, was ponderous when giving Stephen Fleming a life at the start of the New Zealand innings but was otherwise in imperious form.
Other than his flaying with the bat, he hemmed in New Zealand's lightning fast start taking three for 21 off four overs with his left arm spinners - a remarkable effort in the context of the 20-overs-a-side slog.
New Zealand made their own explosive start as born-again opener, Brendon McCullum, and Stephen Fleming blitzed 80 runs inside the eight overs before the skipper was bowled trying to swipe Farveez Maharoof across the line.
Fleming made 38 from 24 balls and, crucially for New Zealand's momentum, McCullum was caught in the deep off Muttiah Muralitharan in the next over to leave the Black Caps at a healthy 82-2 but with two fresh batsmen at the crease.
Opening the batting for the first time since his debut series in Australia almost five years ago, McCullum vindicated his promotion immediately by driving Chaminda Vaas's sixth ball into the stands over extra cover to set the tone for his own belligerent cameo.
McCullum hardly let up, clubbing three more sixes - including one down the players' tunnel from Muralitharan's first ball before the crafty spinner exacted his revenge.
McCullum departed for 39 runs off 22 balls and from that point, Sri Lanka's slower bowlers succeeded in limiting the damage as the run-rate stagnated and wickets fell at regular intervals.
Veteran Nathan Astle, who scored 19 off 13, admitted the Black Caps lost their way after a scintillating start - only 62 were scored after the halfway mark - and suspected Sri Lanka's contrived win was justified.
"I think we were probably 15-20 short. We should have done better through the middle stages."
The second match will be played at Eden Park in Auckland on Boxing Day.
Scoreboard
New Zealand
B McCullum c Tharanga b Muralitharan 39
S Fleming b Maharoof 38
J Franklin lbw b Jayasuriya 18
R Taylor lbw b Muralitharan 21
N Astle b Jayasuriya 19
J Marshall c Silva b Jayasuriya 1
P McGlashan std Sangakkara b Silva 5
A Adams not out 6
S Bond b Vaas 0
M Gillespie not out 3
Extras (8lb, 4w) 12
Total (for 8wkts, 20 overs) 162
Fall: 80 (Fleming), 82 (McCullum), 107 (Franklin), 131 (Taylor), 135 (Marshall), 150 (Astle),
156 (McGlashan), 159 (Bond)
Bowling: C Vaas 4-0-28-1, F Maharoof 3-0-30-1, D Fernando 3-0-36-0, M Muralitharan 4-0-27-2 (2w), S Jayasuriya 4-0-21-3 (2w), M Jayawardene 1-0-8-0, C Silva 1-0-4-0.
Sri Lanka
(target 163)
S Jayasuriya not out 51
U Tharanga c Fleming b Bond 6
M Jayawardene not out 2
Extras (1lb, 2w) 3
Total: (for 1 wkt, 5.5 overs) 62
Fall: 36 (Tharanga)
Bowling: S Bond 3-0-24-1 (1w), J Franklin 2-0-19-0 (1w), A Adams 0.5-0-18-0.
Result: Match abandoned because of rain. Sri Lanka win by 18 runs on Duckworth Lewis system
- NZPA
