LONDON–Sri Lanka will play India in the Champion Trophy semifinals after ousting defending champion Australia by 20 runs and overtaking New Zealand in the group standings yesterday.
Sri Lanka posted 253-8 on a turning pitch at The Oval due to Mahela Jayawardene's 84 from 81 deliveries and Lahiru Thirimanne's 57.
That meant Australia needed to eclipse the target in 29.1 overs to advance, a prospect that always seemed unlikely and proved increasingly so when it lost four wickets inside the opening nine overs.
However, the Australian middle order and tail fought a thrilling rearguard action to finish on 233 from 42.3 overs.
While the Sri Lankans missed a chance to edge England to win Group A, the victory delivered a double knockout in eliminating both finalists from the previous Champions Trophy in 2009, Australia and New Zealand. The Kiwis would have advanced with a Sri Lanka loss.
Instead, Sri Lanka plays on Thursday in the second semifinal in Cardiff, Wales.
England meets South Africa a day earlier at The Oval. The run rate for Australia initially wasn't a problem through big-hitting Glenn Maxwell's 32 from 20 balls, but it fell away as the wickets tumbled.
Adam Voges made 49, while wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade contributed 31 from 23 deliveries. A last-wicket stand of 41 between Clint McKay and Xavier Doherty, who notched career-best ODI scores of 30 and 15 not out respectively, took Australia much closer to victory than seemed likely.
Nuwan Kulasekara was the star in the field, claiming 3-42 with the ball, holding a good catch and executing a run out.
Australia got off to a bad start when Shane Watson chopped the eighth ball of the innings, from Kulasekara, onto his stumps to send the largely Sri Lankan crowd into paroxysms of delight.
Maxwell was promoted up the order and he was instrumental in ensuring Australia scored 27 in total from the fourth and fifth overs.
Earlier, Jayawardene moved past 11,000 one-day international runs in hitting his 69th half-century after Australia won the toss and elected to field.
scoreboard
Australia vs Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Kusal Perera lbw b Johnson 4
T Dilshan c Watson b Doherty 34
K Sangakkara c Maxwell b McKay 3
L Thirimanne c Watson b Johnson 57
Mahela Jayawardene not out 84
Angelo Mathews b Faulkner 12
D Chandimal c Hughes b Johnson 31
Nuwan Kulasekara run out 6
Rangana Herath run out 2
Lasith Malinga not out 2
Extras: (5b, 7lb, 4w, 2 nb) 18
TOTAL: (for eight wickets) 253
Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-20, 3-92, 4-128, 5-159, 6-224, 7-234, 8-244.
Did not bat: Shaminda Eranga.
Bowling: Mitchell Johnson 10-0-48-3 (1nb), Clint McKay 10-1-51-1 (3w), James Faulkner 9-0-60-1 (1nb, 1w), Shane Watson 4-0-14-0, Xavier Doherty 10-1-30-1, Mitchell Marsh 2-0-12-0, Glenn Maxwell 5-0-26-0.
Australia
Shane Watson b Kulasekara 5
P Hughes c Sangakkara b Kulasekara 13
Glenn Maxwell b Malinga 32
George Bailey run out 4
Adam Voges c Eranga b Herath 49
Mitchell Marsh b Mathews 4
M Wade c Dilshan b Kulasekara 31
J Faulkner c Sangakkara b Herath 17
M Johnson c Kulasekara b Eranga 4
Clint McKay c and b Dilshan 30
Xavier Doherty not out 15
Extras: (11lb, 17w, 1nb) 29
TOTAL: (all out) 233
Overs: 42.3.
Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-45, 3-59, 4-69, 5-80, 6-127, 7-163, 8-168, 9-192.
Bowling: Shaminda Eranga 8-1-40-1 (1w), Nuwan Kulasekara 9-0-42-3 (3w), Lasith Malinga 9-0-60-1 (1nb, 5w), Rangana Herath 10-0-48-2 (3w), Angelo Mathews 3-0-21-1, Tillakaratne Dilshan 3.3-0-11-1.
Result: Sri Lanka won by 20 runs.
Man of the match: Mahela Jayawardene
Toss: Australia.
Umpires: Marais Erasmus, South Africa, and Tony Hill, New Zealand.
TV umpire: Aleem Dar, Pakistan. Match referee: Javagal Srinath, India.
