MELBOURNE, Jan 21: Australia captain Ricky Ponting smashed an unbeaten century to lead his side to a nine-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the triangular series one-day match on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka won the toss and batted, scoring 214 for eight before Australia reached 215 for one in 34.3 overs in reply.

Ponting hit 106 off 97 balls and put on a record stand of 178 for the second wicket with opener Matthew Hayden, who was 80 not out.

There was nothing at stake in the match, the last in the 12-game series, with Australia and England already through to the best-of-three finals starting in Sydney on Thursday.

Earlier, Sri Lanka veteran Aravinda de Silva became the third player to reach 9,000 runs in One-day Internationals.

The 37-year-old provided one of the few highlights of the Sri Lanka innings with the 27th run in his score of 44 from 73 balls.

Only Indian pair Sachin Tendulkar with 11,546 runs from 303 games and Mohammad Azharuddin on 9,378 from 334 matches stand ahead of de Silva on the all-time list.

Sri Lanka’s batting fell away after a promising start of 86 for one from 20 overs.

Opener Avishka Gunawardene made 45 and Kumar Sangakkara hit 43 before becoming two of left-arm wrist spinner Brad Hogg’s three victims for 37 runs.

The partnership between Ponting and Hayden was a record for the second wicket by Australia against Sri Lanka, beating the 157 by Steve Smith and Wayne Phillips in 1984-85.

Ponting, 28, who hit 11 fours and one six, played superbly to all parts of the ground in scoring his 11th century in 155 One-day Internationals and second hundred in the triangular series.

Hayden hit only one four but also thumped four sixes in his 87-ball innings.

Sri Lanka had rested captain Sanath Jayasuriya and were led by opener Marvan Atapattu who made 26. They had also chosen to rest off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who has a thigh strain in a concern for the team ahead of next month’s World Cup in southern Africa.

Australia gained a bonus point for reaching their target inside 40 overs.

Australia finished the series on 38 points with seven wins from eight matches, ahead of England on 20 and Sri Lanka on 14.

Australia are yet to name a team for Thursday’s first final although leg-spinner Shane Warne has recovered from a shoulder injury and is expected to be included after playing two one-day games for Victoria earlier this month.

However, Ponting believes Hogg’s good form has given the selectors a tough decision.

Scoreboard

SRI LANKA:

M.S. Atapattu c Hogg b Bichel 26

D.A. Gunawardene lbw b Hogg 45

K.C. Sangakkara c Watson b Hogg 43

P.A. de Silva c Watson b Bracken 44

D.P.M. Jayawardene st G’rist b Hogg 0

R.P. Arnold b Williams 14

W.P.U.J.C. Vaas run out 1

H.P. Tillekeratne not out 9

J. Mubarak lbw b Williams 15

EXTRAS (LB-5, W-11, NB-1) 17

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 50 overs) 214

FALL OF WKTS: 1-64, 2-100, 3-134, 4-135, 5-166, 6-170, 7-201, 8-214.

DID NOT BAT: C. Gamage, R.A.P. Nissanka.

BOWLING: Williams 10-0-57-2 (5w); Bracken 9-0-33-1 (2w); Bichel 10-0-33-1 (2w); Hogg 10-0-37-3 (1w); Watson 4-0-17-0 (1nb, 1w); Symonds 7-0-32-0.

AUSTRALIA:

A.C. Gilchrist b Vaas 26

M.L. Hayden not out 80

R.T. Ponting not out 106

EXTRAS (W-3) 3

TOTAL (for one wkt, 34.3 overs) 215

FALL OF WKTS: 1-37.

DID NOT BAT: A. Symonds, M.G. Bevan, J.P. Maher, S.R. Watson, G.B. Hogg, A.J. Bichel, N.W. Bracken, B.A. Williams.

BOWLING: Vaas 8-0-45-1; Nissanka 7.3-0-61-0 (2w); de Silva 9-0-51-0; Gamage 3-0-23-0; Arnold 5-0-27-0; Jayawardene 2-0-8-0 (1w).

Final standings

(Tabulate under played, won, lost, bonus point, points):

Australia 8 7 1 3 38

England 8 3 5 1 20

Sri Lanka 8 2 6 1 14

—Reuters