An innings of technique and humility

Mahela Jayawardene made a century in the World Cup final and James Lawton in the Independent writes that when we look back to that tumultuous day at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, Jayawardene's performance and demeanour will surely dwarf the usual chasm between victory and defeat.

This was an achievement worthy of a place in anyone's pantheon of sport, a place which is never accommodating to anything remotely resembling a cheap victory.

Watching his unbeaten century was indeed a humbling experience for those of us most reluctant to acknowledge there is much chance of anything truly memorable occurring in any of the shortened forms of a great game. Jayawardene did not flail against this prejudice. He simply caressed it to death.