Steve Harmison's one-day woes continued but England's makeshift attack held their nerve to beat Sri Lanka at the Adelaide Oval.

A third victory, by 19 runs, over Sri Lanka means Nasser Hussain's team have one foot in the best-of-three VB Series finals.

Andrew Caddick claimed two wickets at either end of Sri Lanka's chase of 280 under lights.

But Durham paceman Harmison was wayward, bowling two overs for 27, before staggering off the field after injuring himself while fielding a Jayasuriya push at mid-on.

Sri Lanka were given a flying start by Jayasuriya and despite faltering in mid-innings when reduced to 158-5, a stand of 93 between Kumar Sangakkara and Russel Arnold threatened to put England's future in the tournament in grave doubt.

They needed 33 off four overs with five wickets in hand when Caddick returned.

Both Sangakkara (56) and Arnold (35) attempted to launch into the paceman, but Ian Blackwell held two good catches to end Sri Lanka's hopes.

Earlier, Jayasuriya blitzed his way to 50 from just 35 balls and went on to make an 83-ball 99 - being unfortunately run out in a mix-up with Sangakkara.

England's 279-9 after Hussain had won the toss, was based around half-centuries from Nick Knight and Alec Stewart.

Knight was the silent partner in a first-wicket stand of 56 with Marcus Trescothick.

Trescothick's early momentum and the freedom of stroke of Michael Vaughan, helped England bring up the 100 in the 17th over.

But when Vaughan miscued a pull to mid-wicket off Dilhara Fernando, England's tempo nosedived.

Skipper Hussain made just 18 from 36 deliveries as the third-wicket stand bore 41 in 11 overs.

Not a single boundary was struck between the 16th and 33rd overs until Knight rectified the situation with a flat six over square-leg off De Silva.

A half-century stand with Stewart, promoted to number five, held the innings together but a tiring Knight provided Kumar Sangakkara with a regulation catch behind.

Vaas made it two wickets in consecutive balls when he trapped Ian Blackwell.

But Stewart, 39, struck the ball firmly as 50 came from the final five overs.

Stewart's half-century at almost a run a ball ended when he swung and missed at Chamila Gamage and then Paul Collingwood misjudged a Fernando slower ball.