After a flowing start and then a mid-innings hiccup the New Zealanders worked away to a win with six wickets and 10 balls to spare and now have a few days sitting alone on the top of the Benson and Hedges World Cup points table - an unregarded eminence a week or so ago.
Read more: The Vault - '92 Cricket World Cup: Game 1 - NZ v Australia
However, while the blissful good luck that is accompanying the running is this tournament decided yesterday that the forecasted showers should produce only a skiff of misty rain, there was still considerable merit as the New Zealanders climbed the mountain not quite so tall as Saturday's Everest.
Reasonable
Yesterday their play was marked rather by total industry and application, as compared to the inspired touches of Saturday. It helped a little that Martin Crowe, the New Zealand captain, should win the toss, for he preferred to have Sri Lanka bat first, and thus not have the chance for those second innings speculators which are becoming their trademark.
However, the Sri Lankans had the best of a reasonable pitch which late in the afternoon bothered, but did not betray, New Zealand's special heroes John Wright (57), Andrew Jones (49) and Ken Rutherford (65 not out) with the occasional skidding bounce.
But the Sri Lankans never quite came to terms with New Zealand's recent and remarkable bowling and fielding pattern. Once Danny Morrison and Willie Watson had opened the thrust, with the dismissal of Athula Samarasekera who hobbled away with about equal damage to his hamstring and his good humour, the medium-pacers closed in.
With Gavin Larsen again the most miserly of them they nagged away, and the Sri Lankans adopted a policy of nudging and nicking the singles, with the hope that the boundaries and the big scoring overs would come later.
It may be one of the classical one-day methods, but this time it did not work. Roshan Mahanma toiled away for 80 at one end, but even his solid foundation over close to three hours did not produce the fast runs from the other end.
Aravinda de Silva (31) went at 120 for three wickets, but already 33 overs had gone. Arjuna Ranatunga was caught by Rutherford on the boundary for 20 and when Chris Harris dismissed Mahanama with the next ball the Sri Lankan plan had misfired.
Some statistics from the Sri Lankans showed the flaw in their tactics. Of the 181 runs from the bat slightly more than half (92) came from singles. Mahanama had 37 in his 80, de Silva 19 in his 31, Ranatunga 12 in his 20. Singles are useful in one-day cricket, if they are the base for the fours and sixes later. However , the Sri Lankans showed that an innings will not grow healthily on a surfeit of singles.
Subdued
The Sri Lankans hit only 12 fours in their innings, all from the top five batsmen.
Wright and Latham hit as many in their brisk opening stand of 77, and Wright, severely hampered by his shoulder injury, has seldom batted so aggressively in a one-day innings - as if he wanted to get as many runs as possible before the painkiller wore off.
Wright went at 90, a rather subdued Crowe at 105, and when Rutherford offered a catch two ball later the match may have been in the balance.
The snick just reached Ranatunga at slip, but as he tumbled to the ground the ball popped loose, and Rutherford was away - 65 not out in 71 balls, another man of the match award and perhaps cause to thank for those who reacted when it was found he has been displaced from the New Zealand side a few weeks ago for un-cricket activities.
Jones and Rutherford rebuilt the win with an 81-run stand for the fourth wicket, and Rutherford sprinkled six fours and a six around a ground comfortably with about 85000 spectators.
Lesson
There was thus the lesson for the Sri Lankans - sound defence and singles have a place in one-day cricket, but they left the initiative totally with the New Zealand fieldsmen yesterday and no one was brave enough to try to break the stranglehold.
New Zealand now have four points from their two matches and will play South African at Eden Park on Saturday.
Sri Lanka head for McKay in Queensland for their next match against India.
Sri Lanka 206 for 9, 50 overs
Mahanama 80, de Silva 31, Watson 3-37, Harris 3-43
New Zealand 210 for 4, 48.2 overs
Rutherford 65, Wright 57, Jones, 49, Kalpage 2-33
Man of the match - Rutherford
