Mahela Jayawardene played a captain's knock to lead a resurgent Sri Lanka to a crushing eight-wicket victory over Australia in match six of the ODI tri-series in Sydney on Friday.

Chasing a revised target of 152 off 41 overs due to a rain interruption, the skipper promoted himself to open the batting and promptly smashed 61 not out to give his side a bonus-point win with a massive 101 balls to spare. In terms of balls remaining it was the fifth biggest defeat for Australia in one-day internationals.

David Hussey's fighting 58 had been the only highlight in Australia's innings of 158 all out as the hosts struggled against the varying pace of the Sri Lankan seamers.

Ricky Ponting, filling in for the injured Michael Clarke, won the toss and batted, but that decision backfired quickly as opener Matthew Wade found the going tough. His opening partner David Warner (13) showed aggression early on, but was bamboozled by a Lasith Malinga slower ball which he hit straight into the hands of Farveez Maharoof.

The slower ball then flummoxed Ponting too as he hit a simple return catch to Maharoof before the inexperience of Wade and Peter Forrest was exposed. The pair found themselves involved in a horrible mix-up which resulted in the run-out of Wade (15) after both men found themselves at the striker's end.

At 37 for three Michael Hussey was expected to consolidate the innings, and Mr Cricket looked like he was on course to do so as he smashed Angelo Mathews into the stands for a huge six. But one ball later the bowler got his revenge as Hussey nicked one through to wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara.

The wickets continued to tumble for Australia as Forrest (16) and Daniel Christian (six) failed to make much of an impact and at 88 for six the Sydney rain brought some respite to the Australian batsmen. It could have been even worse for the hosts were it not for a dropped catch by Malinga when David Hussey was on eight.

The hour delay meant the match was reduced to 41 overs a side, and when the players returned it looked like Sri Lanka were going to wrap up the innings as the wicket of Clint McKay (three) saw them crash to 95 for seven before Brett Lee got himself run out moments later.

A fighting 49-run stand between Mitchell Starc and the younger Hussey took Australia past the 150 mark, thanks again to a dropped catch off Hussey. This time it was Angelo Mathews at short cover, but the Sri Lankans did make up for it when Lahiru Thirimanne took a catch on the cover boundary.

Starc and Xavier Doherty were left to close the innings, but Starc's run-out in the final over meant they were all out for 158. Thisara Perera was the hero for the tourists as the all-rounder claimed two for 29, while also having a significant hand in two run-outs.

In reply the Sri Lankans were off to a rapid start as Tillakaratne Dilshan signaled his intentions to finish the match inside 32 overs to claim the bonus point. The former skipper was brutal on Brett Lee, smashing the paceman for three consecutive boundaries early on before also putting a blemish on Starc's figures.

Dilshan raced to 45 off 41 deliveries before he was caught at slip by David Hussey off Clint McKay, but Jayawardene continued to accumulate at the other end and reached his half-ton off 58 balls.

Kumar Sangakkara's innings of 30 proved significant as the wicketkeeper became only the tenth batsman in history to go past 10,000 runs in ODIs.

With only 19 more to get, the wicket of the former skipper proved little more than a consolation as Dinesh Chandimal and Jayawardene comfortably sealed the deal.