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Elmo Rodrigopulle reporting from Ausralia.....

Skipper Sanath Teran Jayasuriya with an all-round performance helped his side rise Phoenix like from the ashes to upset the fancied Australians by 79 runs in their Victoria Bitter one-day International under lights at the SCG on Thursday.

"I had struck a bad patch. I knew that I would come good. And today was my day and match. The boys played well and deserved the victory", said Jayasuriya who was adjudged the man-of-the- match.

Jayasuriya was simply fantastic as he took the Australian bowling by the scruff of its neck and wrung it to all parts of the field and over it as well as he pleased.

Jayasuriya earned a lot of flack from all quarters for his repeated failures in the earlier games. When the team was losing, they were blaming it on him with non-willing to take the responsibility. He was so mentally upset that for the betterment of the team he was willing to sacrifice anything.

But in this game the gods looked benignly on him and what an exhibition of power batting and superb spin bowling he produced. He was hit a painful blows on the side of his right knee early in his innings by express bowler Brett Lee and was in constant pain right throughout his innings. There is no gain without pain goes a saying and Jayasuriya suffered in silence to silence his critics with a century that was worth its weight in gold.

It was the consensus that the team was failing because Jayasuriya was not firing. Jayasuriya underlined his worth and also proved that the team is dependent on him. Here he produced a batting display that set alight the SCG.

True he was dropped on 26. It is said that fortune favours the brave. He rode his fortune and with the ever reliable Marvan Atapattu put up an opening stand of 237 that was a record which took the fight out of the Aussies.

They blasted the bowling at over a run-a-ball and what joy they provided the spectators. They cut, drove, hooked, pushed - in other words they played every stroke in the book as well as out of it - to take Sri Lanka to a total that Australians were always struggling to get. In their stand of 237 they broke many records and had statisticians working overtime.

While Jayasuriya batted in the form of old with powerful cuts and flicks over mid-wicket which sailed to the boundary, Atapattu played very correctly to obtain his runs. Jayasuriya scored his century in 87 balls with 11 fours and 4 sixes. His 122 came off 105 balls with 12 fours and 4 sixes. Atapattu who made his second century in a row-earlier he made a hundred against Australia 'A' -got his three figure mark 101 in 124 balls with 5 fours.

Aravinda de Silva and Russel Arnold failed, but Mahela Jayawardena 37 off 38 balls and Kumar Sangakkara 25 off 20 balls chipped in to take Sri Lanka to a massive 343 for 5 wickets in 50 overs.

When Jayasuriya lost the toss and was asked to bat on a wicket that had a fair share of grass on it, it looked as though they would collapse like they did against Australia 'A' in Adelaide. But as the game progressed it was apparent that Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting had read the wicket wrong. In fact it ultimately proved a good toss to lose. It proved that no one can read a wicket for certain.

Sri Lanka's wonderful come back also proved that cricket is a funny game. From shame in Adelaide to fame in Sydney was least expected. The Sri Lankans have finally obtained vital points and are still in the running for a berth in the best of three finals. No team has come back from being three down to enter the finals. But if the Lankans play in this same brilliant form, there is no reason why they should not turn the form book upside down.

When the Australians batted they were off to a horrendous start when Chaminda Vaas knocked back Adam Gilchrist's stumps with the score on 6. Then they lost Ponting at 35 and from that moment they were on the skids to finally succumb by 79 runs.

Once again the Aussies showed their dislike for top class spin bowling. Jayasuriya, Muralitheran and Aravinda de Silva had the batsmen in a flat spin and never allowed them free rein.

Jayasuriya bowled his left arm spinners intelligently to have 4 for 39 in 10, coming close to taking a hat-trick. Muralitheran although he was not that impressive had 2 for 44 in 10 and requires another wicket to reach 300 wickets in one-day internationals. Pulasthi Guneratne had 2 wickets and Vaas and Dilhara Fernando a wicket each.

Hashan Tillekeratne although he lacks aggression in his batting in this type of game, showed that when it comes to fielding he is second to none. The three catches he took were match winning ones. He is an example to his team mates when it comes to catching.

SRI LANKA

M. Atapattu run out 			101
S. Jayasuriya b Watson    			122
A. de Silva b Watson			 13
M. Jayawardene not out   			 37
R. Arnold st Gilchrist b Symonds 		  0
K. Sangakkara c Maher b Bichel		 25
C. Vaas not out  				  5

EXTRAS (LB-12 W-20 NB-8)			 40

TOTAL (for five wkts, 50 overs)		343

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-237, 2-267, 3-283, 4-284, 5-329.
DID NOT BAT: P.Gunaratne, D.Fernando, M.Muralitharan, H.Tillakaratne.

BOWLING: Lee 7-0-41-0 (NB-2, W-7), Bichel 10-0-70-1 (NB-2, W-9),
Watson 10-0-72-2 (NB-1, W-1), Symonds 9-0-50-1 (W-3), 
Hogg 9-0-75-0 (NB-3), Martyn 5-0-23-0.

AUSTRALIA

A. Gilchrist b Vaas				  6
M. Hayden c Jayawardene b Fernando		 35
R. Ponting c Tillakaratne b Gunaratne		 15
D. Martyn b Jayasuriya     			 40
M. Bevan c Tillakaratne b Jayasuriya		 41
A. Symonds c Tillakaratne
b Muralitharan				  4
B. Lee b Jayasuriya  			 20
J. Maher c Jayawardene b Jayasuriya		 15
S. Watson not out				 35
B. Hogg st Sangakkara b Muralitharan		  4
A. Bichel c Sangakkara b Gunaratne 		 28

Extras (LB-12 W-4 NB-5)			 21

TOTAL (all out, 49.3 overs)  		264

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-6, 2-35, 3-78, 4-143, 5-150, 6-152, 
7-188, 8-188, 9-201.

BOWLING: Vaas 6-0-29-1 (W-2), Gunaratne 8.3-0-54-2 (W-1),
Fernando 9-0-46-1 (NB-5 W-1), De Silva 6-0-40-0, 
Muralitharan 10-1-44-2, Jayasuriya 10-1-39-4.

RESULT: Sri Lanka won by 79 runs.

NEXT MATCH: Jan 11, Australia v England, Hobart.    

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