The next time Plimmer advanced to such great effect she placed the ball just short of mid-off where Athapaththu was nutmegged in a clumsy attempt to get to the bounce and Sri Lanka were punished by another four.

And this was just the innings New Zealand had been seeking form her.

"I wanted to back my skills," Plimmer said upon receiving the Player of the Match award. "I had good conversations with the coaches and the senior players, and just wanted to play my brand. It's a pretty special group we have. We are clear on how we want to play, trying to put our best foot forward. We have had a tough six months but to come out here and put together wins, it gives us huge confidence."

Devine was delighted by Plimmer's gumption, which was particularly impressive at a venue where batters have had to learn the hard way how to get in, stay in and accumulate runs.

"Georgia Plimmer was outstanding," Devine told the post-match presentation. "Super proud of the youngster coming out and sticking to her strengths. She's copped a fair bit of criticism which as a captain is hard to see because you see the work she has been putting in. She had a great knock against Australia in Australia and to see her grow, you've got to remember she's only 20, and if she continues to do what she did today she has a bright future."

Athapaththu's failure to reach double figures at the tournament until now had only highlighted Sri Lanka's reliance on her - she scored just 10 runs across their first three matches, by which point their campaign was over.

On Saturday she scored five fours including two in Leigh Kasperek's first over of the tournament, threaded through cover point and punched through the covers again. But when she dragged on off Kerr in the 14th over, Sri Lanka lost all momentum.

"Everybody expected us to be, not the top dog, but the top underdog, so to speak," he said. "We were in this group where we had some very strong teams and we wanted to win those games but I think the expectation, as much as the world had that expectation, it got to the team.

"In the last 48 hours to 60-72 hours, we were trying to work it out, what really went wrong. That's a work in progress and that's the thing which we have to work out for the future, so that this will not happen again."