PERTH, Australia // Michael Clarke's inspired start to 2012 continued when the Australia captain led his side to victory over Sri Lanka in their tri-series one-day international at the Waca Ground on Friday.
He had an impact with both bat and ball as Australia won by five runs to remain unbeaten after two outings in the triangular tournament.
Australia made 231 from 49.1 overs and in reply Sri Lanka was dismissed for 226 from 49.5 overs, after a last-wicket stand almost snatched an unlikely win for the tourists.
Looking to be headed for a certain defeat at 180 for nine, still needing 51 to win, Angelo Mathews and Dhammika Prasad put on 46 for the last wicket.
The pair needed 18 to win from the final over and Mathews hit the first two Mitchell Starc deliveries for four and six to narrow the equation to just eight from four balls.
Two singles left them chasing six from the last two balls, but Mathews (64) holed out to Daniel Christian on the long-on boundary from the penultimate ball to hand the relieved Australians a victory.
Mathews said he felt like Sri Lanka would snatch the win at the last. "We were just one shot away, but unfortunately we couldn't make it," he said.
Clarke conceded that his team nearly paid for what he termed a subpar performance with the bat.
"We were 30 runs short of what we should have scored on that wicket … A lot of credit needs to go to our bowlers; for the first 45 overs we bowled beautifully."
The series continues on Sunday as India face Australia in Adelaide.
