Australia captain Aaron Finch struck a superb 153 and Mitchell Starc took four wickets to lead the defending champion to an emphatic 87-run victory over Sri Lanka in the Cricket World Cup Saturday.
Finch and Steve Smith (73) shared a fine partnership of 173 as the Australians accelerated smoothly in the second half of their innings to post an imposing total of 334 for seven at The Oval.
Dimuth Kurunaratne and Kusal Perera got Sri Lanka's reply off to a flying start with an opening stand of 115, but Perera was bowled by Starc for 52 and Kurunaratne's dismissal by Kane Richardson for 97 ended their hopes of a record World Cup run chase.
Starc completed figures of 4/55 and Richardson picked up three wickets as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 247 in the 46th over.
Australia's fourth win of the tournament lifted them top of the 10-team standing while Sri Lanka stayed fifth with only one win from five games.
MATCH 20
AUSTRALIA INNINGS R B
Warner b De Silva 26 48
Finch c Karunaratne b Udana 153 132
Khawaja c Udana b De Silva 10 20
Smith b Malinga 73 59
Maxwell not out 46 25
Shaun c Siriwardana b Udana 3 9
Carey run out (Udana) 4 3
Cummins run out (Udana) 0 1
Starc not out 5 4
Extras (lb 4, nb 1, w 9) 14
Total (50 Overs) 334/7
Fall Of Wickets
1-80 (Warner), 2-100 (Khawaja), 3-273 (Finch), 4-278 (Smith), 5-310 (Shaun), 6-317 (Carey), 7-320 (Cummins)
Bowling
Malinga 10-1-61-1, Pradeep 10-0-88-0, Udana 10-0-57-2, Perera 10-0-67-0, De Silva 8-0-40-2, Siriwardana 2-0-17-0
SRI LANKA INNINGS R B
Karunaratne c Maxwell b Richardson 97 108
Perera b Starc 52 36
Thirimanne c Carey b Behrendorff 16 26
Mendis c Carey b Starc 30 37
Mathews c Carey b Cummins 9 11
Siriwardana b Starc 3 4
Thisara c Warner b Starc 7 3
De Silva not out 16 30
Udana c Finch b Richardson 8 8
Malinga c Khawaja b Richardson 1 5
Pradeep c Carey b Cummins 0 7
Extras (lb 2, w 6) 8
Total (45.5 Overs) 247 all out
Fall Of Wickets
1-115 (Perera), 2-153 (Thirimanne), 3-186 (Karunaratne), 4-205 (Mathews), 5-209 (Siriwardana), 6-217 (Thisara), 7-222 (Mendis), 8-236 (Udana), 9-237 (Malinga), 10-247 (Pradeep)
Bowling
Starc 10-0-55-4, Cummins 7.5-0-38-2, Behrendorff 9-0-59-1, Richardson 9-1-47-3, Maxwell 10-0-46-0
Australia won by 87 runs
MoM: Aaron Finch
