KEY POINTS:
An injury to in-form batsman Peter Fulton might have paved the way for Scott Styris to start in New Zealand's World Cup opener against England.
New Zealand bounced back from the humiliating midweek defeat at the hands of Bangladesh to beat heavyweights Sri Lanka by 18 runs in Barbados.
But the victory came at a cost, with Fulton breaking the little finger of his left hand while taking a catch to dismiss Kumar Sangakkara.
Fulton had compiled a classy 59 in New Zealand's 286, continuing the excellent form he had shown to produce two brilliant half centuries in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy.
He and Styris were challenging for the final spot in New Zealand's crammed middle order. While Styris's bowling will come in handy on what is expected to be low and slow Caribbean wickets, Fulton's superb form with the bat was making a more compelling case for selection. Styris's struggles with the bat continued as he made a duck.
Instead, following the final warm-up match win, captain Stephen Fleming said it was unlikely Fulton would be considered for the opener against England at St Lucia, which begins in the early hours of Saturday.
While disappointed by Fulton's injury, Fleming said the win was an important step in the Black Caps' campaign.
"The manner in which we won set us up well for the tournament," Fleming said. "It was a good, tough, competitive, 100-overs cricket, exactly what we wanted from a warm-up game."
Fleming got some valuable crease time, stroking 65 while opening partner Lou Vincent hit 70.
Upul Tharanga got the Sri Lankans off to a brisk reply, scoring 106 and sharing a 115-run opening stand with Marvan Atapattu. But the run-rate blew out to 10 per over in the last two overs and two run-outs ended Sri Lanka's chase.
Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said it would have been ideal to win this game, but he thought New Zealand batted really well.
"We didn't lose the game badly, we came close, so we have taken some positives."
New Zealand left Daniel Vettori out of their line-up to allow Jeetan Patel exposure in match conditions as the No. 1 spin bowler.
Patel finished with 1-55 from 10 overs.
The World Cup proper starts overnight Tuesday with West Indies against Pakistan.
Sri Lanka's first Group B match is against Bermuda at Trinidad overnight Thursday.
- additional reporting Reuters
