David Leggat: Rain fails to beat fans' spirits

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

It was raining at Eden Park, so the crowd poured on to the concourses.

Time for a natter, queue for a coffee, take a toilet break or, in the case of a boisterous group of Sri Lankan fans, make a racket.

There they were banging furiously on their drums, bodies in time to the rhythm. Several non-Sri Lankans joined in.

Pickup games were under way, plenty of laughs. A way to pass the frustrations.

It was just a small vignette of what the next few weeks hold for New Zealand.

Not the rain, fingers crossed, but the spirit and personalities of supporters from around the world who will arrive for the World Cup.

Off the field it promises much.

On it, New Zealand and Sri Lanka will settle for plans being fine-tuned and players finding form.

Few events in any sport match the dispiriting aspect of passing rain at the cricket, interspersed with a few minutes' action. It's better to have a downpour and get it done with.

A match subject to the vagaries of the Duckworth-Lewis system ruins plans. Captains who want certain bowlers operating against particular batsmen, for example, discover those ideas go for a song.

It's just a hunch, but this seven-game series may benefit Sri Lanka more than New Zealand.

And, digressing a moment, Sri Lanka are due back here again next summer for a full test/ODI/T20 visit as part of a bumper four-team home summer ahead of the World T20 championship in India.

New Zealand clearly know their own conditions intimately. Sri Lanka don't, but need to figure them out quickly before the World Cup.

Tootling up and down New Zealand will be highly worthwhile for them.

They will see improvements as players come to grips with requirements. They're already a pretty decent outfit and worth a gentle flutter to win it a second time.

And New Zealand? There may be a sense that, with Martin Guptill and Tom Latham getting confidence-boosting runs yesterday, another small piece fell into place.

Ross Taylor lasted eight balls. His ODI record suggests he'll come good. You can't have everything sorting itself out at the same time.

Still, as the New Zealanders are fond of saying, there's plenty of cricket to come before the World Cup starts. True, but just watch how quickly the next couple of weeks will fly past.