Australia's George Bailey plays a shot as Sri Lanka's Kusal Perera watches during their third one day international cricket match in Dambulla, Sri Lanka. (AP)




 



DAMBULLA: George Bailey hit 70 and shared two crucial partnerships to help Australia beat Sri Lanka by two wickets in their third one-day international on Sunday and take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.



Sri Lanka batted after winning the toss and was bowled out for 226 in the final over. Dinesh Chandimal hit his fourth one-day century and held the Sri Lanka innings together amid a flurry of wickets.



Australia faced some early setbacks in the run chase, losing three wickets for 44 runs.



But Bailey shared 62 for the fourth wicket with Travis Head (36) and 81 for the fifth wicket with Matthew Wade (42) to steer the tourists to a comfortable win.



Australia slumped from 187-4 to 222-8 before the tailenders took their team over the line.



BRIEF SCORE



Sri Lanka: 226 (Dinesh Chandimal 102, Adam Zampa 3-38) lose to Australia: 227 for 8 (George Bailey 70) by 2 wickets.