Sri Lanka and New Zealand first played a limited-overs international match during the 1979 World Cup, at Nottingham, on 9-6-1979. The latter won the match by nine wickets.
Since then the teams have played 52 matches, with the Kiwis winning 27 and the Lankans 22. Two matches between the two sides were left unfinished, while one ended in a tie, on 11-11-1996, at Sharjah.
The two teams have so far met each other in four World Cup matches -- in 1979 (see above), twice in 1983 (at Bristol -- NZ won by 5 wickets -- and at Derby -- Sri Lanka won by 3 wickets -- and, finally, in 1992 (at Hamilton -- New Zealand won by 6 wickets).
In all matches the highest team total for New Zealand against Sri Lanka is the 304 for 5 it made at Auckland on 20-3-1983,, while Sri Lanka's highest is the 293 for 4 at Colombo, SSC, on 5-7-1998.
The Lankans had made 115 at Colombo (Saravanamuttu) on 1-4-1984, which is the lowest between the two sides while the Kiwi's 116 at Moratuwa on 31-3-1984 remains its lowest.
In all eight hundreds have been scored by the Sri Lankan batsmen, with Sanath Jayasuriya making three, while the New Zealanders have managed just three.
Jayasuriya's 140 (in 143 balls) at Bloemfontein on 8-12-1994 is the highest for Sri Lanka, while Glenn Turner's 140 (in 130 balls) at Auckland on 20-3-1983 is the best by a Kiwi batsman against Sri Lanka.
Jayasuriya has the highest run aggregate of 1004 runs (avg. 32.39) in 32 matches, while Chris Harris has 623 runs (avg. 34.61) in 30 matches for the New Zealanders.
Muttiah Muralitharan -- 40 wickets (avg. 20.60) in 24 matches -- and Chris Harris -- 29 wickets (avg. 37.28) in 30 matches -- have the distinction of being the top wicket-takers for the respective countries.
Muralitharan's 5 for 9 in 10 overs at Sharjah on 9-4-2002 are the best bowling figures, while Richard Hadlee's figures -- 5 for 25 in 10.1 overs at Bristol on 13-6-1983 -- are the best for the Kiwis.