Johannesburg: The oldest player of the tournament continues to dominate what is billed as a youngsters' game and Sanath Jayasuriya wielded the willow with blithe spirit to lead Sri Lanka to a comprehensive seven-wicket win against New Zealand in the Twenty20 cricket World Cup on Saturday.

After in-form Kiwi Ross Taylor propelled New Zealand to a challenging 164 for seven after the allotted 20 overs, 38-year-old Jayasuriya (61,44b,6x4,3x6) partnered captain Mahela Jayawardene (35 not out off 18 balls), also on the wrong side of 30s, to cruise to 168 for three wickets with seven balls to spare.

Shane Bond maybe a feared name in other versions of the game but the Kiwi speedster found himself at the receiving end of the slam-bang format, and went wicket-less in his four overs that cost him 45 runs.

Both the teams have already made it to the Super Eights stage from Group C.

It was Jayasuriya's second successive half century after he struck a 44-ball 88 against Kenya in the previous match.

Earlier, Daniel Vettori's decision to bat first was not exactly vindicated as Kiwi openers Lou Vincent (14) and Brendan McCullum (10) found boundaries were not just up for grabs.

Dilhara Fernando mopped up both the openers in successive overs to leave the Kiwis at 25 for two before Taylor and Fulton steadied the rocking boat.