Sydney: After two successive close encounters where Sri Lanka found themselves on the wrong side of the result, the Lankan Tigers recorded a welcome win when they beat Australia comfortably by eight wickets in the sixth match of the Commonwealth Bank ODI series at Sydney on Friday.

Chasing a revised target of 152 runs in 41 overs, Sri Lanka reached scored the required runs with 16.5 overs to spare. Skipper Mahela Jayawardene played a captain’s knock with 61 off 65 balls after promoting himself up the order. Jayawardene replaced Tharanga as an opener and shared a 74-run partnership with Dilshan, who made 45 off 41 balls. Kumar Sangakkara joined the skipper and crossed the rare milestone of 10,000 ODI runs in the process of hitting a quick 29-ball 30 with four boundaries and a six.

Earlier, Australia won the toss and went off to a disastrous start as they once they lost five wickets for 74. The match was briefly stalled due to rain when Australia was struggling in bad shape at 88 for the loss of six wickets in 26 overs. David Hussey top scored with 58 runs which came in 64 balls inclusive of six boundaries.

Farveez Maharoof who came in place of Sachithra Senanayake claimed two wickets for 18 runs in eight overs and Thissara Perera, who was named man-of-the-match, took 2 for 29 in seven overs.

Praising his bowlers, Jayawardene said, "Our bowlers can bowl in different conditions. They are capable of adapting well to various conditions.”

He added, "We needed a start, I have done opening before. It was a good call and thankfully it worked today. We knew we had to win today. Also, we try and play different combinations, depending on conditions and oppositions."

Brief scores: Australia 158 all out (40.5) (David Hussey 58, Ferveez Maharoof 2/18, Thissara Perera 2/29)
Sri Lanka 152 for 2 wkts (24.1) (Mahela Jayawardene 61 n.o., TM Dilshan 45, Kumar Sangakkara 30)