Adam Gilchrist returned to his swashbuckling best with his 13th one-day century to guide Australia to a six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in their triangular series one-day match in Perth on Sunday.
Gilchrist smashed 116 and combined with Simon Katich (82) in a 191-run opening partnership to ensure Australia passed Sri Lanka's 233 for eight with nine overs to spare.
Damien Martyn (13 not out) and Michael Clarke (nine not out), however, failed to give Australia the bonus point because they scored the winning runs in their total of 237 after the end of the 40th over.
The victory virtually guaranteed Australia a place in the series finals. They have 18 points, while Sri Lanka have nine and South Africa have eight.
Sri Lanka play South Africa in the next match in the series on Tuesday, also in Perth.
Gilchrist, captaining the side in the absence of the rested Ricky Ponting, destroyed the Sri Lankan attack with 11 boundaries and four sixes off 105 balls on his home ground.
Such was the ferociousness of his stroke-play that he smashed Supersub Akalanka Ganegama out of the attack, with the medium pacer being dispatched for three fours and a six to concede a total of 20 runs off his only over.
Katich was more circumspect, quietly accumulating runs while ensuring the red-hot Gilchrist kept the majority of the strike.
Gilchrist, who bought up his century with a punch down to mid off from 88 balls, was eventually deceived by Muttiah Muralitharan and sent a return catch back to the off spinner.
Katich followed up his half century from Thursday's match in Adelaide with his highest one-day score and had looked like he was on course for his first one-day century before he was bowled by Chaminda Vaas with 25 runs needed for victory.
Mahela Jayawardene (69) and Russel Arnold (56) had combined for a 121-run partnership for Sri Lanka after an early collapse.
It was Jayawardene's fourth half century of the tournament.
Scorecard
Sri Lanka:
J. Mubarak c Hodge b Clark 15
S. Jayasuriya c Gilchrist b Lee 0
K. Sangakkara run out 6
M. Jayawardene c McGrath b Symonds 69
R. Arnold c Clarke b Clark 56
T. Dilshan run out 35
C. Kapugedera c Hogg b Lee 22
C. Vaas not out 6
N. Kulasekara run out 0
M. Muralitharan not out 3
Extras (lb-12 w-9) 21
Total (for 8 wickets, 50 overs) 233
Fall of wickets: 1-6 2-16 3-27 4-147 5-170 6-224 7-225 8-227
Did not bat: D. Fernando
Bowling: B. Lee 10 - 0 - 42 - 2 (w-1) ; G. McGrath 10 - 2 - 35 - 0 (w-1); S. Clark 10 - 0 - 40 - 2 (w-1); A. Symonds 10 - 0 - 54 - 1 (w-1); B. Hogg 10 - 0 - 50 - 0 (w-1)
Australia:
A. Gilchrist c&b Muralitharan 116
S. Katich b Vaas 82
B. Hodge c Sangakkara b Fernando 2
D. Martyn not out 14
A. Symonds c Jayawardene b Vaas 5
M. Clarke not out 9
Extras (nb-5 w-4) 9
Total (for 4 wickets, 41 overs) 237
Fall of wickets: 1-191 2-200 3-209 4-221
Did not bat: M. Hussey, B. Hogg, B. Lee, G. McGrath, S. Clark
Bowling C. Vaas 8 - 1 - 40 - 2; D. Fernando 9 - 0 - 52 - 1 (nb-4 w-3); N. Kulasekara 8 - 1 - 37 - 0 (w-1); A. Ganegama 1 - 0 - 20 - 0 M. Muralitharan 10 - 0 - 53 - 1 (nb-1) T. Dilshan 3 - 0 - 24 - 0; S. Jayasuriya 2 - 0 - 11 - 0
More from rediff