Bevan put the finishing touches to an innings that gained early impetus from Adam Gilchrist, an aggressive batsman who sees a scoring opportunity in every delivery. His type rarely have a prolonged slump because to play in that style you have to have confidence in your ability and it only takes one shot off the middle of the bat and they believe they're back in form.

However, where Sri Lanka set the pattern as far as tactics were concerned at the last World Cup, they seemed to have stagnated in that department and Arjuna Ranatunga opted to set his field deep and only retain four inside circle.

Thisplayed right into Australia's hands even though they lost Ponting and Lehmann. In particular, it suited Michael Bevan who didn't have to alter his style one little bit to accumulate 72 at better than a run ball by finding the gaps without having to take any risks.

Never one to be overawed by bowlers or a difficult run chase, Jayasuriya relished the challenge. He targeted Adam Dale so that he could hit with the wind and belted 20 off one over from the accurate swing bowler and then Jayasuriya went after Shane Lee when he replaced the normally miserly Queenslander.

The larruping left-hander had just reached 50 after surviving a loud shout for caught behind, but he couldn't overcome the vagaries of the WACA pitch and he received a nasty blow on the wrist bone. The wrist swelled immediately and x-rays showed he had a nasty fracture and the task now will be to get him ready for the World Cup.

Scoreboard

Australia: Gilchrist b Vaas 47, M Waugh c Atapattu b W'singhe 12, Ponting (run out) 39, Lehmann cK'tharana b W'singhe 20, Martyn c Mahanama b M'tharan 48, Bevan not out 72, Lee c Atapattu b W'singhe 22, Julian c K'tharana b Vaas 1, Warne not out 1; Extras: (b1, w6, nb5) 12. Total: for 7 wkts, 50 overs) 274

Fall of wickets: 1-62, 2-62, 3-100, 4-138, 5-205, 6-266, 7-268

Bowling: Vaas 10-0-51-2, Perera 10-0-71-0, Wickramasinghe 10-0-48-3, Muralitharan 10-0-46-1, Jayasuriya 10-0-57-0

Sri Lanka: Jayasuriya retd hurt 50, Kaluwitharana c Lee b Dale 13, Atapattu run out 34, Tillerkeratne c Ponting b Warne 30, Vaas c Julian b Warne 20, Ranatunga c Gilchrist b Ponting 14, Jayawardena c Dale b Warne 36, Mahanama lbw Julian 4, Perera b McGrath 3, W'singhe c Warne b McGrath 10, Muralitharan not out 0; Extras: (b1, lb4, w2, nb8) 15. Total: (for 9 wkts, 46.3 overs) 229

Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-126, 3-153, 4-159, 5-201, 6-213, 7-219, 8-229, 9-229

Bowling: McGrath 8.3-3-19-2, Dale 6-0-51-1, Lee 5-0-32-0, Julian 7-0-28-1, Ponting 10-0-41-1, Warne10-0-53-3

Result: Australia won by 45 runs. Man of the match: Ricky Ponting