The rain, which threatens to turn New Zealand's tour into a joke, arrived as expected in the evening.
Duckworth Lewis calculations came into play and, despite sitting at a dicey 118 for three chasing New Zealand's respectable 250 for six, the hosts are credited with the win.
As New Zealand sets out to level the series on the same ground tonight, they should certainly be buoyed by events yesterday.
Consider they'd had effectively no practice due to rain, forced to endure a four-hour return trip to Colombo by bus over tricky, winding roads over the previous two days - which could easily have been avoided with some thoughtful planning - and there was plenty to offer encouragement.
"We were pretty confident we were going to have a decent crack at it," coach Mike Hesson said of the game at the point it was washed out.
It's no secret that Sri Lanka don't bat that low. They rely heavily on their Big Three, captain Mahela Jayawardene, lefthander Kumar Sangakkara and opener Tillekaratne Dilshan. Two of those three had gone before the rain, the pitch wasn't especially easy to bat on and New Zealand's tails were up.
Still, that's life when you're forced to endure a schedule foisted on you by hosts, who have argued unconvincingly their hands were tied on timing due to commitments for both countries.
New Zealand are unlikely to decide whether key player Brendon McCullum is fit to play, having sat out yesterday's game with a painful back. Allrounder Andrew Ellis, badly affected by a stomach bug, was back at the team hotel early in the second innings yesterday.
Hesson yesterday admitted the tour had its challenges.
"But it's a good challenge for us. There's a lot of time in the hotel and we've got to make sure we keep people on task."
The match was the first ODI to be played under revised conditions, which include only four fielders being allowed outside the inner circle in non-Powerplay overs.
- By David Leggat of the New Zealand Herald