Two well made half centuries, which finally proved match-winning feats, by skipper Marvan Atapattu (80) and Kumar Sangakkara (62), followed by a great display of leg-spin bowling by ‘super-sub’ Malinga Bandara (4 for 31 in 9 overs), helped Sri Lanka beat South Africa by 76 runs, in a decisive VB tri-series encounter, putting them in the best-of-three series final, at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart, yesterday.

Sri Lanka, after winning the toss and deciding to bat first on a batting-friendly pitch, fought on to score 257 for 9 in 50 overs and then restricted South Africa from the early stages, never allowing them to find their feat, before finally bowling them out for 181 in 43.4 overs.

The victory will now put Sri Lanka into the VB Series (earlier known as ‘Benson & Hedges’ and then ‘Carlton & United’) finals, for the second time in its 18-year-old history.

Sri Lanka reached the B&H finals in 1995-96 defeating Australia in the last league game pushing out the third team, West Indies, from the finals. This superlative feat was later identified as a forerunner for the island’s World Cup win which came just two months later.

They will now meet world champions Australia in the first final in Adelaide on Friday (10) and then in Sydney on Sunday (12) under lights on both occasions. The Lankans will go to the finals with confidence because both these venues assist their style of play.

The third final is scheduled for Brisbane on February 14 and will be played, only if required.

Bandara stole the limelight and won the Player of the Match award, though it was his senior partner Chaminda Vaas who turned the game in Sri Lanka’s favour, sending back both Boeta Dippenaar (9) – the highest scorer of the series coming into the match with 373 runs in seven innings - and Herschelle Gibbs (0) in his fourth over, the seventh of the innings, putting the opponents on the back foot.

Dippenaar was trapped in front when he tried to glide the ball through point and Gibbs was trapped by the bowler’s well-disguised ‘slower ball’ giving a return catch to Vaas in the third ball he faced.

The Lankan bowlers never loosened their grip on the game since then (2 for 19).

Graeme Smith (67 in 76), who had a poor run during the series with a top score of 44, tried to consolidate the innings sharing 58 for the third wicket with Mark Boucher (24 off 36) and 36 for the fourth with Ashwell Prince (22 off 41), but misread a Bandara "wrong un" in the bowler’s second over to offer long-on an easy catch.

He was earlier dropped by Tillakaratne Dilshan off Dilhara Fernando. The same Bandara over saw him bowl a googly, which got rid of Justin Kemp - who was out lbw first ball - reducing South Africa to 114-5 in the 27th over.

Middle-order batsmen Prince, Shaun Pollock and Johan van der Wath did not flourish as the Proteas surrendered fast (8-147). Johan Botha (17) and Andrew Hall (18 not out) added 31 for the ninth but no sooner they hit to the far corners, the catches were held by the Lankans and they were bowled out for 181 in 44th over.

Sri Lanka got the bonus point to finish with 14 points (SA 12, Aus. 27).

Sri Lanka were earlier given a solid start by their openers, Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya, who added 52 for the first wicket in 53 balls before Jayasuriya was bowled, off an inside edge, for 25.

The second wicket pair of Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara put on 123 runs, which ultimately proved vital.

Atapattu though, struggled to find his touch, consuming 92 balls for his career’s 58th fifty and Sangakkara was relatively in control taking 61 for his his 28th ODI fifty.

Before Sangakkara departed, caught at mid-on off van der Wath for 62 (77 balls with 5 fours), Sri Lanka were strongly placed at 175 for one in 36.2 overs.

Skipper Atapattu followed him in the next over for 80 (122 balls), caught at mid-off off the same bowler and soon found the rest of his batsmen providing catching practice to the South African fielders, offering "dollies" in their bid to accelerate the run rate.

Jehan Mubarak (14 off 19), Vaas (5) and Muttiah Muralitharan (1) found the fielders inside the circle as they tried to clear them, while Mahela Jayawardene (11) and youngster Chamara Kapugedara failed to capitalise on the platform built by the top order.

Dilshan hit a four and a six in the last over by Hall, which saw Sri Lanka go past the 250 run mark before he was cleaned up trying to paddle a delivery backward, after scoring 30 in 23.

M. Atapattu c Hall b van der Wath 80

S. Jayasuriya b Pollock 25

K. S’kara c Dippenaar b van der Wath 62

M. Jayawardene lbw b Hall 11

J. Mubarak c Prince b Hall 14

T. Dilshan b Hall 30

C. Kapugedara b Botha 3

C. Vaas c Botha b Langeveldt 5

M. Muralitharan c Botha b Langeveldt 1

D. Fernando not out 1

R. Perera not out 1

Extras:(b3, lb5, w12, nb4) 24

Total:(9wkts) 257

Overs: 50.

Fall of wickets: 1-52, 2-175, 3-190, 4-207, 5-212, 6-220, 7-229, 8-241, 9-254.

Bowling: S.Pollock 10-0-35-1(2w), D. Steyn 3-0-32-0(4nb), A. Hall 10-0-50-3(3w), C.Langeveldt 10-0-47-2(2w), J. van der Wath 9-1-41-2(2w), G. Smith 3-0-19-0(3w), J. Botha 5-0-25-1.

G. Smith c Muralitharan b Bandara 67

B. Dippenaar lbw b Vaas 9

H. Gibbs c and b Vaas 0

M. Boucher b Fernando 24

A. Prince c and b Bandara 22

J. Kemp lbw b Bandara 0

S. Pollock c Sangakkara b Bandara 15

A. Hall not out 18

J. van der Wath b Muralitharan 0

J. Botha c Kapugedara b Jayasuriya 17

C. Langeveldt b Dilshan 1

Extras:(lb3, nb1, w4) 8

Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-19, 3-77, 4-113, 5-114, 6-137, 7-146, 8-147, 9-178, 10-181.

Bowling: C. Vaas 7-3-17-2, R. Perera 6-0-40-0, D. Fernando 7-1-32-1 (1w, 1nb), M. Muralitharan 8-0-28-1, T. Dilshan 4.4-0-23-1 (1w), M. Bandara 9-0-31-4 (1w), S. Jayasuriya 2-0-7-1 (1w).

Overs: 43.4.

Toss: Sri Lanka

Man of the Match: M. Bandara (Sri Lanka).