Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya watches as one of his shots heads for the boundary yesterday.

georgetown, guyana, (reuters)

Sanath Jayasuriya took all the plaudits after scoring what he regarded as "one of his best" hundreds in Sri Lanka's World Cup Super Eights victory against West Indies yesterday.

Jayasuriya, 37, scored 115 from 101 balls after his team lost the toss and were put in to bat on a slow wicket in overcast conditions at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.

It was his 25th one-day century as he helped Sri Lanka rack up 303-5 in the second-phase game.

Left-arm spinner Jayasuriya, who helped his team recover from early difficulty at 35 for two, was the clear man of the match as he also collected three for 38 with the ball.

'BEST KNOCKS'

"That was one of the best knocks I've played because it was not a very easy wicket to bat on and also we didn't want to lose any wickets so we were a little under pressure," Jayasuriya told reporters.

Jayasuriya showed no signs of age 11 years after he was voted man of the tournament when Sri Lanka won the 1996 World Cup.

The left-hander, who said he wanted to finish the World Cup "on a very good note" before deciding on his future, still appears to have the same drive and passion for his game now as he always has.

Certainly his skipper Mahela Jayawardene, who scored 82 in the match and put on 183 with Jayasuriya, is grateful to have him around still.

"I've seen quite a lot of him to be honest and I would probably rank this (innings) as one of his top ones," Jayawardene said.

"He's a big game player, he's done it not just against small teams in low-key tournaments, but he has done it in big tournaments under pressure. That's why he is something different."

West Indies captain Brian Lara was full of admiration for his fellow 37-year-old and was in no doubt that Jayasuriya — described by commentator Barry Richards as a "pocket rocket" — changed the course of the match.

"He was exceptional," Lara said. "We did not see it coming as after 15 overs there were 50 runs on the board and two wickets. You would think that if we kept the pressure on they would try to build their innings slowly.

"