'Jayasuriya has been brilliant' - Jayawardene

Mahela Jayawardene admits Sanath Jayasuriya's decision to put his Test match retirement on hold could be the decisive factor in his country's World Cup bid.

The 37-year-old Jayasuriya briefly retired from Tests last year before changing his mind and returning to the ranks. Despite his age, the veteran of the 1996 World Cup winning team is enjoying a new lease of life in the Caribbean and looked near his best during his 115 against West Indies on Sunday, his 25th one-day century.

"We felt when you come into a World Cup year it's important you play all the matches. When you play all the time it keeps you going so it probably was a good decision for him to come back and play Test cricket as well," said Jayawardene.

"He's been brilliant. He's working harder, he's enjoying his cricket and he played some really good innings, not just the one you saw against the West Indies. He keeps going, that's the character of the guy."

Sri Lanka, who were facing England in their latest Super Eights match at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Wednesday, are being tipped as potential World Cup winners with their exciting mixture of youth and experience. Jayawardene, whose side crushed England 5-0 last year, believes that tour, where they also drew the Test series 1-1, was a crucial staging point in the squad's development.

"It was a brilliant tour for us but we've come a long way. From that start in England we've pushed on and played some really good cricket," said Jayawardene. "The youngsters learnt a lot from that England trip. From there onwards guys like Lasith Malinga and Upul Tharanga have come up pretty well."

The 2006 series in England culminated in an emphatic eight-wicket win at Headingley where Tharanga (109) and Jayasuriya (152) shared a world record first-wicket stand of 286 as Sri Lanka won with more than 12 overs to spare.

Jayawardene, who said that series had been the launch-pad for a run of form that has seen Sri Lanka tipped to repeat their 1996 World Cup triumph here, said he didn't expect last year's series to have too much of a bearing now. But he warned: "It depends if England is thinking about it."

"For us it's not an issue because we are playing in different situations, different tournament, different conditions and probably different personnel as well. Things have changed since we played England."

Sri Lanka enjoyed a crushing 113-run victory against hosts West Indies in Guyana on Sunday and Jayawardene, who scored a morale-boosting 82 in that match, said: "The mood is pretty good. The way we played against West Indies was very satisfying.