Aussies thrash Sri Lanka

It was effectively a winner-takes-all contest between this year's World Cup finalists - and it proved to be another one-sided encounter as Australia galloped home by 10 wickets.

Openers Matthew Hayden, who overtook England's Kevin Pietersen as the tournament's top run-scorer with an unbeaten 58, and Adam Gilchrist scythed down the target of 102 in just 10.2 overs.

Hayden finished things in style with his second six of a 38-ball innings, carted over midwicket off Jehan Mubarak's gentle off-spin.

Earlier, acting Australia captain Gilchrist won a useful toss and his bowlers exploited the early-morning moisture in the Newlands surface.

Sri Lanka made a pitiful start against the new ball, not aided by some over-ambitious strokes given the tricky conditions, as three wickets went down in the first three overs.

By the time Stuart Clark had taken a four-wicket haul to become the most prolific bowler in the tournament with 12, Sri Lanka were a pitiful 43 for seven.

It took a 40-run stand for the eighth wicket between Mubarak and Chaminda Vaas to ensure some respectability but the Sri Lankans were left to rue their inability to adjust their outlook, having played their previous matches at the run-heavy Wanderers in Johannesburg.

The comprehensive win did not come without a downside for the Aussies, however, as Shane Watson pulled up in his final over, experiencing trouble in the left hamstring which has dogged him over the past year or so.

Ponting, meanwhile, will remain with the squad despite being ruled out for the rest of the tournament with hamstring trouble of his own.