David Leggat: On the other side, a tower of experience

Mahela Jayawardene of Sri Lanka bats during the One Day International match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka at Hagley Oval in Christchurch. Photo / Getty Images

Sri Lanka will top the World Cup teams in at least one respect - they've got a pile more caps than any other nation.

The team who pulled the series level at Hamilton on Thursday night have amassed 1775 ODI caps. That's a lot of accumulated wisdom. New Zealand's XI had 932.

At a time when New Zealand are publicly confident their batting will come right - the evidence will be produced in the next few days, optimistic batting coach Craig McMillan said yesterday - it's worth a glance at the other team in this seven-game marathon.

Sri Lanka won the 1996 cup final, and have been beaten finalists in the last two editions, against Australia in Barbados in 2007 and against India in Mumbai four years ago. Expect them to be there at the sharp end of this year's event.

One reason for that is they have four matchwinners in their top six batsmen.

Consider the output of Tillekaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and captain Angelo Mathews. That quartet is a match for any batting group who will start the World Cup.

Jayawardene is retiring after the cup. He'll play his 437th ODI at Eden Park today. Only Sachin Tendulkar (463) and countryman Sanath Jayasuriya (445) have played more.

He's hit 18 hundreds, which you'd think he would recall; but how about the 76 fifties. There's a challenge for the man who wields his bat like a wand.

Sangakkara will walk out for his 393rd international today. He needs 17 runs to overtake Jayasuriya for ODI runs. Only the uncatchable Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting would then be ahead of him. A solid next few weeks' work will have him behind only the Indian master.

Mathews is averaging 40 from 147 games and is ranked 13th among ODI batsmen (Sangakkara is fourth, Dilshan 8th and Jayawardene 23rd). He's got his best years to come.

Which leaves Dilshan, in a sense the unsung hero in this group. But check the numbers for the 38-year-old: he averages 38.56 in his 15-year career, with 19 centuries and 41 fifties.

Sure, he misses out at times, but give him a chance to settle into his work, as happened at Seddon Park, and he can do serious damage, as New Zealand discovered. He was savage on New Zealand's fastest bowler, Adam Milne, scoring 54 from 32 balls off him on his way to a match-winning 116.

Throw in tidy offspin and smart movement in the field, and you have one of the more effective one-day players around.

It may be that with more illustrious teammates around Dilshan doesn't get the recognition his talents deserve. It may be that his value is best appreciated by those around him.

But keep an eye on this man for the rest of this series. Thursday might not be his only "special" between now and the start of the World Cup.