With the bat, SL was awful, scoring just 171 in 46.4 overs. Kusal Perera achieved a fifty-score.
NZ responded by taking 23.2 overs (172/5) to chase down the mark.
This is a synopsis of the match.
Tim Southee and Trent Boult stunned Sri Lanka before Perera proved his class with a quick 51.
Tom Latham dropped him early on.
Before Maheesh Theekshana and Dilshan Madushanka displayed character, NZ had SL reeling at 113/8 and then 128/9.
The NZ openers responded by scoring 86 runs to set the stage.
After that, NZ completed the task with ease.
Kusal Perera records the 2023 World Cup’s fastest half-century.
Perera hit nine boundaries and two maximums in his 51 off of 28 balls.
Perera became the fastest player in the event as he hit his fifty in just 22 balls.
In his match against South Africa and Pakistan, respectively, he removed Kusal Mendis and Travis Head of Australia off the top spot. They each needed 25 balls to reach the milestone.
Fastest World Cup fifty for SL tied with second place.
Perera joined Dinesh Chandimal in hitting the second-fastest World Cup fifty ever by Sri Lankan batsman. On this ranking, however, Angelo Mathews (20 balls against Scotland, 2015) is ranked highest.
17 50s in the ODI for Perera
With 16 games played and a 28.06 average, Perera has now raced to 449, his fifth half-century in ODI World Cups.
With an average of 30.53 from 116 ODIs, Perera has 3,237 runs. There are seventeen fifty and six tons in the total.
Perera has amassed 229 runs at 38.16 from six innings against NZ (100: 1, 50: 1).
A distinct achievement for Theekshana
In ODIs, Theekshana has now survived the second-highest amount of deliveries (91 balls) any player batting at number nine or lower.
He is just behind Jai Prakash Yadav of India, who in 2005 defeated New Zealand by surviving 92 balls.
Former World Cup record holder Andy Bichel of Australia made history in 2003 when he survived 83 balls versus New Zealand.