A BRILLIANT unbeaten century by Aravinda de Silva swept Sri Lanka to a glorious World Cup triumph as they beat favourites Australia in the final in Lahore, Pakistan, yesterday. After taking three wickets in Australia's 241 for seven, de Silva hit a magnificent 107 not out as Sri Lanka eased comfortably to 245 for, three to win by seven wickets with more than three overs to spare.
In the space of a few years, Sri Lanka have been transformed from the whipping boys to the kings of world one day cricket. Prior to this tournament, Sri Lanka had only ever won four World Cup matches. This time they have been undefeated.
De Silva steadied the Sri Lanka innings after they had been shaken by the loss of quick scoring openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana. The damage was repaired by de Sila and Asanka Gurusinha, the pair speeding up to share a match winning third wicket partnership of 125 in 152 balls. Gurusinha lived the more dangerously, the beneficiary of two dropped catches and a missed stumping, to make 65 before being bowled by Paul Reiffel.
Arjuna Ranatunga, the team's captain, ensured Gurusinha's departure did not hinder Sri Lanka's path to glory and with a succession of sweetly timed shots the pair took the team to a historic win. Fittingly, the captain hit a boundary to seal victory.
De Silva's innings was a model of consistency and superb technique. Delicate nudges and glances were mixed with crisp straight drives and he reached his century by clipping pace bowler Damien Fleming fine to the leg boundary for his 12th four.
Australia's much vaunted leg spinner Shane Warne had a miserable time, conceding 58 runs off 10 overs without taking a wicket. To make Warne's day worse, Ranatunga hit a drive back through the wrist spinner's hands and next ball hooked him for six.
A Sri Lankan win had looked very unlikely early on as Australia. who lost the toss and were asked to bat, scored rapidly. They looked to be heading for a large total as captain Mark Taylor cut loose against the opening attack.
Although losing his side's leading run scorer Mark Waugh for 12, caught off a casual clip straight to square leg, Taylor played a series of superbly timed strokes to race to his half century from 52 deliveries.
He took two boundaries in an over off each of the pacemen as well as pulling Vaas for six over mid wicket. Even the advent of the spinners failed to slow Taylor down and he and Ricky Ponting looked untroubled as they added, 101 in 115 balls for the second wicket.
At the halfway mark in their innings, Australia had reached 134 for one and looked poised to set a very difficult target. But after hitting a six and eight fours in making 74 from 83 deliveries, the Australian captain was also guilty of a careless shot, pulling a short ball from de Silva straight to Jayasuriya at square leg.
Ponting, who had not batted with the same fluency as his captain, became de Silva's second victim, bowled when attempting ,a forcing shot after making a 73 ball 45.
The momentum was never recovered following Taylor's departure and the tempo slowed in such a way that after the 25th over, only 45 runs came from the next 15.
Victory was especially sweet for the Sri Lankans following the refusal by Australia, along with West Indies, to play group games in Colombo because of safety fears. Sri Lanka also endured a controversial recent tour of Australia during which they were accused, but later cleared, of ball tampering.
