His partner for the major part of the innings was Hashan Tillakaratne, who joined him when the score was 23/1 and kept him company till Jayasuriya himself was dismissed with the score on 193/2. The 170 runs that were added during the course of the partnership was a new record for the second wicket in World Cup history as far as Sri Lanka were concerned. Fittingly, Tillakaratne, who went on to make an unbeaten 81 off 106 balls (five fours), was around to embrace his skipper when the latter made his third ODI hundred of the year. The foundation that the two men laid was solely responsible in helping Sri Lanka end up with a very competitive 272/7 despite a stifling spell from Nathan Astle in the latter stages of their innings.