Sri Lanka beat Australia off

MELBOURNE: Chamara Kapugedera smashed a four off the last ball to give Sri Lanka a thrilling five-wicket victory over Australia in their first Twenty20 international at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.

The win kept Sri Lanka unbeaten in four T20 internationals in Australia and followed their 2-1 series win over South Africa last month.

The pulsating win was made possible by a dashing 52 off 37 balls by Asela Gunaratne, who was named man-of-the-match for his matchturning innings.

Gunaratne slammed seven fours to share in a decisive 60-run stand with Milinda Siriwardana to put the Sri Lankans just 18 runs short of victory with 17 balls remaining.

It was a tense finish with skipper Aaron Finch making fielding changes before every ball to prevent Sri Lanka from getting home.

But it was Kapugedera who stood up to the pressure and slammed fast bowler Andrew Tye’s final delivery through the covers to the boundary rope for the winning hit.

The win put Sri Lanka one up in the series with two matches to play in Geelong on Sunday and Adelaide on Wednesday.

For a time it looked as though the Australians, playing without their leading stars, Steve Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood all on tour in India, would hold off the fast-finishing Sri Lankans.

The home side posted a competitive total of 168 for six off their 20 overs with skipper Finch smashing two sixes and two fours in his top scoring 43 off 34 balls.

Finch shared in an opening