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 it to the top of the tournament standings. Peter Forrest scored the first century of the series with 104 to carry Australia to 280 for six, 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 faces a must-win game against Australia in Sydney Sunday. Clean sweep by Ireland Ireland beat Kenya by two runs to complete a 3-0 clean sweep in their Twenty20 cricket series at the Mombasa Sports Club on Friday. Batting first, Ireland made 107-9 and the Kenyans came just short of overhauling the target in the low-scoring match.
