Australia bowler Nathan Bracken starred as his side thrashed Sri Lanka by 128 runs in a World Cup final rerun in the tri-series competition in Sydney yesterday.
The home side made 253-for-six after winning the toss and electing to bat and the Sri Lankans were never in the hunt after losing two early wickets, making a paltry 125.
It was the first time the sides had met in a one-day international since Australia's win in last year's World Cup final and although Kumar Sangakkara offered some brief hope in the run chase with a sparkling 42 from 41 balls, once he fell the tourists collapsed dramatically.
PHOTO: AFP
Sangakkara was in peak form, taking 16 runs off one Brett Lee over, but was trapped leg-before-wicket by a delivery that jagged back off the pitch and into his pads from impressive swing bowler Nathan Bracken.
The Sri Lankans were then 74-for-four and when Chamara Silva (7) and Chamara Kapugedera (0) went quickly, they had lost three wickets for 10 runs in just 14 balls and never recovered.
Mahela Jayawardene admitted Sri Lanka's top order batsmen simply didn't do enough.
"We lost too many wickets up front and we are very disappointed with the performance," he said. "We haven't been very consistent with our one-day form and we've been talking about it quite a bit. We thought we were getting back into it, but today was a very disappointing day."
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