Adelaide, January 24:

South Africa beat Sri Lanka in a nailbiting finish to win by nine runs in the triangular series. Set 264 to win, Sri Lanka looked on course until an extraordinary run out of captain Marvan Atapattu and an inspired over by Andrew Hall. Wicketkeeper Mark Boucher was involved in Atapattu’s departure and also stumped Sanath Jayasuriya.

Opener Boeta Dippenaar fired his third one-day ton, hitting 125 off 145 balls. Sri Lanka’s defeat meant they failed to top the table. All three teams have played four games and have recorded two wins and two defeats. Australia is on top with 10 points, followed by Sri Lanka (9) and South Africa (8).

South Africa struggled for runs in the first 35 overs after tight bowling and aggressive field placings. Herschelle Gibbs helped up the scoring rate with a quick-fire 68 off 65 balls. Muttiah Muralitharan took the wickets of captain Graeme Smith (28), and Johan van Der Wath for a duck in successive balls in the 19th over, to become the second player to take 400 wickets in one-day internationals.

But Hall and Johan van der Wath combined to take wickets and restrict runs in the final overs. Tillakartne Dilshan (82 not out) and Mahela Jawayardene (52) combined to scored 107 runs and looked on course before Jayawardene was bowled by van der Wath. Hall then bowled Russel Arnold and ran out Malinga Bandara on successive balls in the 48th over to swing the game back in South Africa’s favour.

SCOREBOARD

SOUTH AFRICA

G Smith st Sangakkara b Muralitharan 28

B Dippenaar not out 125

J Wath c Arnold b Muralitharan 0

J Rudolph c & b Dilshan 11

H Gibbs b Perera 68

S Pollock c Atapattu b Kulasekera 8

J Kemp not out 6

Extras: 17 (b2, lb11, w4)

Total: 263/5 (50 overs)

FoW: 1-72, 2-72, 3-101, 4-220, 5-249

Sri Lanka bowling: Vaas 10-1-55-0, Perera 7-0-45-1, Kulasekera 9-1-35-1, Muralitharan 10-0-45-2 (4w), Dilshan 8-0-43-1, Jayasuriya 6-0-27-0

SRI LANKA

J Mubarak c Prince b Pollock 4

S Jayasuriya st Boucher b Hall 37

K Sangakkara c & b Wath 23

T Dilshan not out 82

M Atapattu run out 23

M Jayawardene b Wath 52

R Arnold b Hall 11

M Bandara run out 0

C Vaas c Botha b Pollock 9

M Muralitharan not out 0

Extras: 13 (lb6, w5, nb2)

Total: 254/8 (50 overs)

FoW: 1-11, 2-68, 3-68, 4-117, 5-224, 6-242, 7-242, 8-253

South Africa bowling: Pollock 10-1-51-2, Langeveldt 10-0-62-0, Wath 10-1-37-2, Hall 10-1-38-2, Botha 9-0-53-0, Smith 1-0-7-0

Man of the Match: B Dippenaar