PERTH, Australia, Jan 29 (AFP) - Busy allrounder Mark Ealham recaptured his destructive form to spearhead England to an emphatic victory over Sri Lanka in a Tri Nations one-day tournament match under lights here on Friday.

Ealham, 29, emerged from a lean run with the ball to seize three crucial scalps in four balls and finish with a superb career-best, man of the match 5-32 from 10 overs, as Sri Lanka crashed to 99 in just 33.3 overs.

England, who smacked 227-7, won by 128 runs.

England's win made them strong favourites to play in the best-of-three finals next month, while Sri Lanka are now struggling to qualify.

England move to the top of the ladder with five wins, ahead of Australia (four) and Sri Lanka (two).

Sri Lanka can still reach the showdown for a first prize of 100,000 Australian dollars (63,000 US), but will almost certainly need to win their last three qualifiers, including Sunday's day match here with Australia.

Ealham had been struggling for wickets in this competition, picking up only three in his seven previous games at an unflattering average of 84.

And his luck did not seem likely to change when whirlwind Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya lashed a ferocious low, straight six off him in his first over.

But Ealham recovered rapidly from that indignity to land a killer punch when he ousted Jayasuriya (40) and Marvan Atapattu (17) with the fourth and fifth balls in his third over and Aravinda de Silva (1) with the first ball of his fourth over.

Only the straight bat of Mahela Jayawardene, who came in after the departure of Atapattu, thwarted Ealham's bid for a hat-trick.

Ealham later captured the wickets of Romesh Mahanama (6) and captain Arjuna Ranatunga (11).

England strike bowler Darren Gough had given his side a superb start with the scalp of Romesh Kaluwitharana (5) in his third over.

Jayasuriya and Atapattu then forged a threatening stand of 50 before Ealham made his dramatic triple thrust.

That sent Sri Lanka toppling to 67-4 in the 20th over, and the World Cup one-day champions were unable to rally in the way England had stormed back in their innings.

In fact, Sri Lanka lost their last nine wickets for a paltry 34 runs.

Sent in by Ranatunga when he won the toss, England skidded to 38-4 before being rescued by left-hander Neil Fairbrother (81 not out) and Adam Hollioake (46).

Fairbrother batted with a runner towards the end of his valiant knock after injuring a leg.

The England innings was notable for a marvellous one-day international debut by Sri Lanka's 21-year-old left-arm bowler Ruchira Perera.

Using the lively pitch effectively early in the day, he ousted captain Alec Stewart (0), Nick Knight (13) and Nasser Hussain (0) to have 3-15 off his opening 20 balls in the highest level.

He blotted his copybook to some degree by sending down 10 no balls and three wides, but still finished with a creditable 3-55.

Perera capped his milestone appearance with a marvellous throw from side-on which ran out Hollioake.

The game had explosive potential after the dramatic events of the past week, which culminated Thursday when Ranatunga was fined and received a suspended six-match ban for leading his players to the boundary in Adelaide last Saturday.

He had been protesting against Australian umpire Ross Emerson's decision to call the team's off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing.

Ranatunga was loudly booed as he walked to the wicket to bat, but pressure was eased as Stewart shook his hand before he began his innings.

Ranatunga, however, was also booed off the field when he was dismissed.

Muralitharan bowled 10 highly-effective overs for 1-26 without having any problems with umpires Steve Davis and Peter Parker.