Sri Lanka won a thrilling tri-series one-day international by three wickets over Australia with four balls to spare on Friday at the Bellerive Oval, taking them top of the tournament standings. Peter Forrest scored the first century of the series with 104 to carry Australia to 280 for six off their 50 overs, but it proved insufficient as Sri Lanka kept ahead of the run chase and survived a late wobble to seal victory.
Skipper Mahela Jayawardene produced a man-of-the-match performance with 85 off 81 balls and combined with Dinesh Chandimal’s 80 from 100 balls to hand Sri Lanka a strong launching pad. The Australians looked as if they might fight back for a win, taking three wickets in the last five overs, but Thisara Perera (21 not out) and Nuwan Kulasekara (4 not out) got Sri Lanka home with some lusty hitting. Kulasekara hit the winning runs as Sri Lanka reached 283 for seven off 49.2 overs. The win puts Sri Lanka top of the triangular tournament on 15 points, one ahead of Australia, with India slipping four points behind the host nation. India now face a must-win game against Australia in Sydney on Sunday. Jayawardene looked set for a well-deserved century, the second in the match, before he was stumped by Matthew Wade well out of his crease after being deceived by a beautiful delivery from spinner Xavier Doherty in the 27th over.
Chandimal was out leg before wicket to Ryan Harris as he walked across the stumps to a straight ball and tried to dink it square, leaving the visitors on 243 for five in the 45th over. Dan Christian finished the best of Australia’s bowlers with three for 53 off eight overs, although Perera clouted him for four and six off successive deliveries in the penultimate over. Earlier, Forrest, slotting comfortably into deposed Ricky Ponting’s number three batting spot, smashed 104 off 138 balls. Forrest hit 10 fours and two sixes to take his tournament tally to 234 runs in four innings since his unexpected selection for the tri-series.
