After a summer of frustration and fierce words, South African skipper Graeme Smith finally let his cricket do the talking as the Proteas revived hopes of reaching the tri-series finals with a comfortable five-wicket win over Sri Lanka in Perth.

After posting career-best bowling figures of 3 for 30, Smith then scored a solid 41 - his second highest score of the tour - to set the Proteas on their way to the target of 222.

Fellow opener Botha Dippenaar continued his prolific tri-series with 87 to secure the win, but the Proteas failed to clinch the bonus point which could prove so vital in the series' final calculations.

Such a comfortable day for South Africa had earlier looked unlikely, after the elegant brutality of Sanath Jayasuriya had jettisoned Sri Lanka to a promising start.

With the veteran opener's trademark cuts and pulls on display, Perth seemed poised to witness its second one-day century in three days, following Adam Gilchrist's brutal assault under lights on Sunday.

Jayasuriya eased to 50 off 44 balls, and the loss of opening partner Jehan Mubarak (31) merely served to increase Jayasuriya's tempo - until the intervention of Smith and a diving Ashwell Prince.

Prince's effort at backward point had Jayasuriya (86 from 65 balls) kicking the turf in disbelief, while the skipper - who had never taken more than one wicket in a one day international - was overjoyed.

With the momentum shift, South Africa suddenly found catches sticking and its ground fielding forcing run outs.

Mahela Jayawardene became Smith's third victim in three overs before Kumar Sangakkara (16), Marvin Atapattu (7) and Russel Arnold (15) all fell to sharp chances.

What had been a good start wasted became a full-blown collapse when Chaminda Vaas (0) ran himself out and Nuwan Kulasekara (1) edged to slip

The fall of seven wickets for 45 runs led to an eventual total of 221, which never looked like enough.

After his shocking tour with the bat, man-of-the-match Smith seemed to take heart from his bowling performance once out in the middle.

Some impressive strokes secured him 41, before Muttiah Muralitharan spoiled an otherwise perfect day by having him snaffled by Sangakkara.

At the other end, Dippenaar immediately took a liking to Muralitharan, smashing the champion spinner for 14 in his first over.

After compiling an impressive 87, Dippenaar's attempt to accelerate towards a bonus point was halted by Muralitharan, who ended with respectable figures of 3 for 44.

And despite a late stumble, South Africa reached the total with 29 balls to spare.

With two matches to come next against the Australians, the last match of the series - against Sri Lanka in Hobart on February 7 - could still decide who joins the hosts in the finals.

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