It was against Zimbabwe in the ODI at Colombo that he started his international career by hitting the winning run followed by the half century. He was initially dropped from the squad to Australia for the triangular series but to his goodluck, recalled after Silva got injured. He hit a magnificent 120 against England. In 1997 against India he smashed 66 and 157 against New Zealand. Again 242 against India in Feb 99 . He was placed amongst the first 10 fastest scorers of the World Cup with 102 runs and a strike rate of 96.23. Presently Jayawardene is the Vice Captain of the Sriankan's team. People hope that under his vice captaincy the Srilankans team will not repeat its dismal performance of the world cup.