'It is the best time of my career' - Jayasuriya

Sanath Jayasuriya's sparkling century lit up an overcast Adelaide Oval on the opening day of the tour match © Getty Images

Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu resurrected their opening partnership in some style at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday. Though they have not batted together since February following Atapattu's absence from the side, they rediscovered their old understanding to put on 195 runs against a Chairman's XI on the opening day of their tour.

Jayasuriya made a confident, stylish century, while his partner Atapattu anchored with 56, and after play he told how the months they had been apart melted away. "We both have been batting for a long period. We both know how to get the singles. We have an understanding, so what we do is rotate the strike very well."

Judging by the Sri Lankans' first-day batting, they mean business. All week they have been confident in practice, with verbal assurances of aggression. Their batting on Saturday may have been circumspect to begin with - as they readjusted to playing a longer form than 20 or 50 overs for the first time since July - but they will be pleased with three half-centuries and a century. Michael Vandort and Thilan Samaraweera were the others to make fifty.

"We took a bit of time to settle down to begin with," Jayasuriya said of his stand with Atapattu. "It was not easy earlier on. It was a two-paced wicket, so we wanted to get in there for a longer time, settle down first. It's not easy at all, [so we had to] just watch the ball and hang in there."

Jayasuriya suggested that the plan for the rest of the match will be to bat for as long as possible without declaring to give their batsmen as much time as possible to adjust to the conditions in Australia. Mahela Jayawardene, the captain, said earlier this week that the batting was something they wanted to work on following the disappointments in their one-dayers against England.

When asked whether the plan would be to declare - Trevor Bayliss, the coach has said he wants to win the practice games if possible - Jayasuriya said he didn't think so. "Everybody needs a lot of practice in the middle. Batting in the middle will be the best thing: if the batsmen are batting they will have the confidence."

Jayasuriya's own confidence couldn't be higher at the moment. He declared himself in the prime of his batting life - "It is the best time of my career. I've got a lot of runs in the last two years" - and brushed off concerns that this match wouldn't count on his first-class record. "I'm quite happy to get another hundred here. Always good to get a hundred before a Test series, it gives you confidence.

"I'm enjoying my cricket and I've got a lot of runs. I played really good cricket last year. I've been playing well so I want to continue that." If he can continue in this vein, and the other batsmen can build over the warm-up matches then, although it's early days, there could be a decent Test series in the making.