Jayawardene says he can bat better on top of the order for Lanka

Centurion Mahela says he can express himself a bit better at the top of the order for Lanka

Centurion Mahela says he can express himself a bit better at the top of the order for Lanka

Mahela Jayawardene's classy century and Guyanese rains combined to give Sri Lanka a 14-run win over Zimbabwe on the Duckworth/Lewis method in their World Twenty20 Group B match last night.

On the rise: Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene in full flow during their World T20 match against Zimbabwe yesterday. Pic/AFP

This was a match Sri Lanka, beaten first up by New Zealand, had to win to stay in the tournament.

But it was a close run thing for last year's losing finalists with the five overs needed in Zimbabwe's reply to constitute a match only just completed before rain ended the game.

Veteran batsman Jayawardene's innings was the cornerstone of Sri Lanka's 173 for seven, made after captain Kumar Sangakkara won the toss.

Zimbabwe, playing their first match of the tournament after encouraging warm-up wins over defending champions Pakistan and Australia, saw their innings halted by rain in the first over.

That left them with a revised target of 104 off 11 overs before rain halted the match at the five-over mark with Zimbabwe on 29 for one, rather than the 43 for one they needed for victory, following the early loss of Hamilton Masakadza to a farcical run-out.

Unless Zimbabwe beat New Zealand by a huge margin here on tonight, Sri Lanka should go through to the Super Eights with the Kiwis.

"It was tough because of the rain and there was a situation where if it was rained out today and tomorrow (Tuesday) or if Zimbabwe had got a better run-rate than us then we'd have been out of the tournament," Sangakkara said.u00a0

"I'm relieved and happy we managed to play a game out there but I thought the day belonged to Mahela, who batted absolutely brilliantly.

"To score a hundred in Twenty20 isn't easy but the way he is batting, I think he'll keep on doing things that are incredible."

Former captain Jayawardene, who made 81 in Sri Lanka's two-wicket loss to New Zealand, scored exactly 100 and is relishing his role as an opener after spending the bulk of his career lower down the order.