Record-breaking Jayawardene sinks Canada

Mahela Jayawardene stroked his way to the fastest World Cup hundred by a Sri Lankan and the fourth quickest in the tournament's history as his 81-ball 100 overwhelmed Canada and launched Sri Lanka's campaign as emphatically as their co-hosts India did on Saturday.

After a quiet first 20 overs for Sri Lanka Jayawardene's arrival kicked the innings into gear. He was in total control, threading the spinners through the finest gaps and caressing boundaries at will. Sri Lanka are one of the favourites for this tournament because of the batting strength built around Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara in the top order.

Jayawardene brings with him a wealth of experience and showed how to pace a one-day innings. He barely mistimed a ball but twice survived reviews from Canada captain Ashish Bagai, who was twice convinced he was out caught behind. On both occasions the appeal was spontaneous and exuberant but the UDRS - without Snicko, and shorn of HotSpot - revealed nothing.

With those moments of alarm behind him, his glances, chips, pick-up-sweeps and even a reverse-thwack toyed with a Canadian attack that faded under pressure. There were only two sixes in Sri Lanka's 50 overs and one was a powerful crunch over midwicket by Jayawardene as he began to impose himself.

It was an innings that proved again that controlled stroke-making can be every bit as devastating as headline-friendly bludgeoning. In form like this he can mask the limitations of Sri Lanka's middle order and carry the side very far in this tournament. The only thing that challenged Jayawardene was the heat and he looked exhausted as he crawled the single that brought up his record-breaking century. By the time he departed Sri Lanka were well clear and their World Cup campaign was up and running.