Sri Lanka clinched their one-day series with Zimbabwe, and remain on course for a sweep of the five-game series, after claiming a narrow five-run win from a rain-affected match in Harare.

The tourists had completed comfortable victories in the opening two matches but were made to sweat for their win on Monday, only securing it from the final ball.

The hosts needed six from Muttiah Muralitharan's last ball of the game but Tawanda Mupariwa could not oblige, instead being stumped by Kumar Sangakkara.

Sangakkara had earlier top-scored for the tourists with 57 from 59 balls to help them to a total of 171 for seven from 28 overs.

The start of the game had been delayed by three and a half hours due to the weather and when play eventually got under way Sangakkara led the way on a slow wicket to post his first ODI fifty in 10 innings. Mupariwa was the pick of the Zimbabwe bowlers with career-best figures of four for 39.

The Zimbabwean reply got off to a flying start with openers Hamilton Masakadza (77) and Vusi Sibanda (25) putting on 76 for the first wicket.

Thilan Thushara removed both batsmen and when Nuwan Kulasekara bowled Tatenda Taibu (31) the hosts needed 21 from the last two overs.

That target looked within their sights when Stuart Matsikenyeri took 10 runs from the first two balls of Ajantha Mendis's penultimate over.

But when Matsikenyeri (19) was trapped leg before by Muralitharan from the first ball of the last over, with 10 runs still needed, the Zimbabweans' hopes looked gone.

And so it proved as their lower order could only contribute a further four runs to fall just short.