Sri Lanka beat Australia by 3 wickets

Hobart: Mahela Jayawardene hit an aggressive half century to help set up Sri Lanka's thrilling three-wicket win over Australia in a limited-overs tri-series match on Friday.

Man of the match Jayawardene hit six boundaries and a six to make 85 off 81 balls, and Dinesh Chandimal brought up an assured 80 at Bellerive Oval as the Sri Lankans scored 283-7 to overhaul Australia's 280-6 with four balls to spare.

"It was one of those days when most of your shots went to the gaps," Jayawardene said.

Sri Lanka now leads the tri-series with 15 points, one more than Australia, ahead of the finals starting March 4.

"The youngsters are learning a lot from these games," Jayawardene said. "We are top of the table, but we still need to do a lot of hard work."

Sri Lanka's hopes of the win looked in doubt when Angelo Mathews miscued a Dan Christian (3-53) delivery with 14 runs required from nine balls, but Thisara Perera hit a four and a six off the next two balls, and Nuwan Kulasekara hit a four in the last over to seal the victory.

"Unfortunately we couldn't get over the line, but full credit to Sri Lanka," Australia captain Michael Clarke said. "Our execution with the ball wasn't good and the top four could do better."

Sri Lanka opener Tillekeratne Dilshan made just 3 before he was caught by Peter Forrest at deep square-leg off Ben Hilfenhaus in the eighth over.

Kumar Sangakkara edged a Christian ball to David Warner for 22, and Jayawardene was stumped by wicketkeeper Matthew Wade when he was beaten by a Xavier Doherty delivery.

Lahiru Thirimanne added 24 before becoming Christian's second victim, caught by Hilfenhaus.

Chandimal hit seven fours in his knock. He was trapped lbw by Ryan Harris and Farveez Maharoof had added just 5 when he lofted a ball to Harris off Hilfenhaus.

Forrest earlier scored 104 for his maiden international century in what appeared to be a challenging Australian total. His century was the first of the tri-series tournament, which also involves India.

Clarke made a quick-fire 72 off 79 balls in a 152-run, third-wicket stand with Forrest to steady Australia after an early collapse.

Australia made a poor start to the match after winning the toss and opting to bat when opener Matthew Wade was caught by Jayawardene at wide mid-off for 5 in just the second over.

Opening partner Warner was caught behind for 7 shortly after while defending a Maharoof delivery.

Perera claimed an athletic catch on the mid-wicket boundary to give Mathews (2-43) the valuable wicket of Australia captain Clarke.

Forrest had hit 10 boundaries and two sixes when he offered a simple catch to Maharoof off a slower Mathews ball.

Michael Hussey made 21 off 14 balls before being bowled by Lasith Malinga and Christian was stumped by wicketkeeper Sangakkara after he charged up the wicket at a Rangana Herath delivery.

David Hussey was unbeaten on 40 with Brett Lee on 20 at the end of the Australia innings.

Australia maul India by 110 runs

Brisbane: Riding on Ben Hilfenhaus' maiden five-wicket haul in one-day internationals, Australia bundled out India for 178 to win the seventh match of the tri-series by 110 runs in Brisbane on Sunday. India's chase of 289 was over before it started when they failed to recover from three early strikes. Australia now have 14 points from five matches while India are second in the table with 10 points from five games.

It was again the batting which failed India, particularly the top order. From a scoreline of 36 for 4, only MS Dhoni stood out with a battling 56 as India were handed a heavy defeat. Hilfenhaus, returning to Australia's one-day side after a long gap, finished with career-best figures of 5 for 33 that included the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar (3).

After early wickets, there was no consolidation from the lower-order, other than the stand of 46 between Dhoni and Suresh Raina (28) for the fifth wicket. The Indian batsmen fell prey to some brilliant bowling by Hilfenhaus and Brett Lee (3 for 49) and never recovered from their new-ball strikes.

After electing to bat, Australia got off to a good start as David Warner (43) and Matthew Wade (45) added 70. Wade was dropped by Rohit Sharma on 0 off the second ball of the innings and made the Indians pay, while Michael Hussey enjoyed three reprieves during his game-changing 59 off 52 balls. India had done well to get rid of Warner and Ricky Ponting, but failed to go for the kill.

Wade and newcomer Peter Forrest played watchfully and kept the scoreboard ticking. MS Dhoni made the folly of continuing with fill-in spinners Suresh Raina and Rohit, and even Rohit's dismissal of Wade – who chipped a simple return catch back to the bowler – failed to stop Australia from posting a big total.

Michael Hussey's innings began in bizarre circumstances. On 1, he stretched forward to a delivery from Raina that beat the bat, and Dhoni took off the bails in a flash. The on-field umpires went upstairs, and after replays showed Hussey had dragged his back foot in, the third umpire Bruce Oxenford inexplicably pressed the 'out' button. This mistake was corrected immediately and the on-field umpires called Michael Hussey back.

Hussey was dropped on 13 by Rohit at short midwicket off Raina, and stamped his authority with a 100-run stand with Forrest. Irfan Pathan struck to remove both batsman in the 44th over, but David Hussey and Daniel Christian plundered 110 runs from the last 10 overs. In the 49th over Christian hit four consecutive boundaries off Vinay Kumar, and his unbeaten 30 off 18 balls took his team's score to 288.

India seal thriller against Australia

Adelaide: India held their nerves to conjure up a four-wicket victory by chasing down a target of 270 with two balls to spare in their tri-series encounter against Australia on Sunday.

Needing 13 runs off the last over, MS Dhoni hit a massive six on the third Clint McKay delivery after R Ashwin took a single off the second. Dhoni then made full use of an over-the-waist full toss - which was declared a no-ball by the umpire Nigel Llong – to get back on strike and sealed the match with another pull shot that resulted in three scampered runs.

Dhoni remained unbeaten on 44, along with Ashwin (1). McKay was the most successful Australian bowler, picking up three wickets, while Xavier Doherty also took two wickets with his left-arm spin.

Chasing a competitive total, Virender Sehwag (20) and Gautam Gambhir (92) gave India a rousing start, hitting boundaries at will. Both batsmen played some exquisite cover drives as India reached 50 in the ninth over. But like so many occasions in the recent past, Sehwag departed when he tried to fetch a leg-sided delivery by McKay, only to balloon it and giving a simple catch to David Hussey at backward point.

Virat Kohli was the next to go, his dismissal the result of hitting too many good shots straight to fielders. He was caught at sweeper cover by Peter Forrest off McKay. Rohit Sharma replaced Kohli and got himself going with a few well-stolen singles. His first boundary, a six, was a fierce pull shot off Mitchell Starc. Meanwhile, Gambhir completed his half-century in 63 balls. But when things were looking good for India, Rohit threw his wicket away and gave Australia a chance to claw their way back.

Clearly perturbed by his partner's wicket, Gambhir too played some high-risk shots before he shuffled across the stumps and was adjudged lbw off McKay, his third wicket of the innings. As his wicket fell in the 34th over, Dhoni and Suresh Raina saw off the batting Powerplay, taking only 18 runs in those five overs.

Raina broke the shackles by hitting Doherty for a six in the mid-wicket region, and the two then concentrated on taking some quick singles and doubles till Raina was yorked by Doherty to leave India needing 31 runs off 23 balls. Ravindra Jadeja contributed 12, before leaving Ashwin to see India through along with Dhoni.

Earlier, India's bowlers had restricted the Australian scoring rate in the last ten overs, giving away just three boundaries in that period. Vinay Kumar and Umesh Yadav picked up two wickets each while Zaheer Khan got one. The other three Aussie batsmen were run out.

Australia changed their opening combination as Ricky Ponting started the innings in place of Matthew Wade, along with David Warner. Ponting looked out of sorts from the beginning, and Vinay provided India their first breakthrough when Ponting hit his swirling delivery into the hands of Kohli at backward point.

Michael Clarke looked in ominous touch as he raced to 25 in just 17 deliveries, hitting four crisp fours either side of the wicket. Warner's wicket after a terrible mix-up with Clarke put the brakes on the Australian scoring. Clarke then departed when Yadav, after bowling consistently around the 150 kph mark, bowled one of 121 kph, completely deceiving the Australian skipper, who chopped on while trying to fetch the ball from well outside off-stump.

Yadav was the pick of the Indian bowlers, but Forrest, who made his debut, used Umesh’s pace to register his first boundary in ODI cricket. The right-hander also looked extremely comfortable against the spinners, using his feet to both Jadeja and Ashwin, and he got to his maiden half-century in 70 deliveries.

At the other end, Hussey (72) made his intentions clear from the outset, stealing singles on a regular basis and hitting fours on loose deliveries. But Yadav returned to provide India the much-needed breakthrough when he had Forrest caught at the square-leg fence for 66. The wicket also ended the 98-run stand for the fourth wicket between Forrest and Hussey.

Daniel Christian (39) also took the attack to the Indians from the word go. But a terrific diving catch at square-leg by Sehwag sent Hussey back and then Christian ran himself out against the run of play as India pulled things back by bowling plenty of dot balls in the final overs.