England were hit by Hurricane Jayasuriya at Headingley - but his whirlwind 87-ball 112 was aided by some modest bowling. The further England bowled towards off stump, the more Jayasuriya helped himself. When the ball pitched outside off he hammered 38 off 16 balls, when it pitched on off 25 off 15, but when it was outside leg he managed only 9 off 20.

One of the few men in the game capable of the square-driven six, not to mention the pick-up over midwicket from outside off, Jayasuriya was devastating when he was able to play forward. Off the front foot he smashed 85 off 45 balls (equivalent to 11.33 per over), but off the back foot he made only 21 off 35 balls - a modest 3.6 an over.

As our graph shows, the further England pitched up, the further the ball went. The moral of the story is clear. Bowl short of a length (off such deliveries he managed only 13 off 22 balls), and outside leg stump (9 off 20) and you're less likely to get blown away. Pitch it up and with room for Jayasuriya to free his arms and you'll pay.

The correlation between England's length and how many they went for was clear: 3.82 an over when they bowled short, 7.95 on a good length, and 11.04 when they pitched up. Maybe that's why Andrew Flintoff was England's best bowler against Jayasuriya. He went for only 8 off 12 balls. By contrast, the hapless Matthew Hoggard and Paul Collingwood disappeared for 63 off just 34 balls. That's a rate of 185 runs per 100 balls, or, if you prefer, 556 off 50 overs.

Jayasuriya's hundred came from 78 balls, faster than any Englishman has ever managed in a one-day international. But in his solo collection it wins only the bronze medal: he has walloped centuries off 48 and 76 balls in the past.

It was his first one-day hundred against England, and his 12th in all. But this was the first time Jayasuriya had done so and been on the losing side.

Rob Smyth is on the staff of Wisden.com.

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