Defending Champion Australia coasted to an effortless seven-wicket victory over rival Sri Lanka at Grenada in its Super-8 group stage clash at the ICC Cricket World Cup.

Missing lightning fast paceman Lasith Malinga and its two most reliable bowlers in Chaminda Vaas and champion spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lanka's total of 226 was never going to be enough against Australia's in-form batting line-up.

And so it proved as the Australians never looked threatened once Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist took the sword to Sri Lanka's under-strength new-ball attack before Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds finished the match with unbeaten half-centuries.

In more good news for the Australians, they now have the option of welcoming back all-rounder Shane Watson from injury in what is effectively a dead rubber for them as only a catastrophe on Friday against New Zealand will stop them from topping the Super Eight table.

Under-rated left-armer Nathan Bracken did the damage for the Australians with the ball, removing both Sri Lankan openers early then returning at the death to grab another two wickets on his way to the impressive figures of 4-19.

Brad Hogg and Glenn McGrath, who dismissed key man Kumar Sangakkara, both continued their fine run at the tournament with two wickets each.

Hogg was instrumental in ending the Sri Lankan revival started by Mahela Jayawardene and Chamara Silva.

That pair rescued Sri Lanka from 3-27 in the seventh over with an accomplished 140-run stand but just when it seemed they had batted their side back into the contest Hogg struck in consecutive overs to put Australia back on top.

The left-arm spinner had Silva caught top-edging a sweep to Michael Clarke at short fine leg for 64 then had Jayawardene stumped on 72 when he failed to pick a wrong'un.

Only some lusty late hitting by Farveez Maharoof and Malinga Bandara lifted Sri Lanka past 200.

Hayden and Gilchrist capitalised on the absence of Vaas and Malinga, clubbing 76 inside 12 overs before both players fell to Russel Arnold.

Michael Clarke chipped in with 23 before handing his wicket to Bandara but Symonds and Ponting's unbeaten 106-run stand allowed the world champion to preserve its unbeaten streak at the tournament.

Sri Lanka innings (50 overs maximum)			R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	WU Tharanga	c Hayden b Bracken	6	33	22	0	0	27.27
	ST Jayasuriya	lbw b Bracken	12	21	12	2	0	100.00
	KC Sangakkara	lbw b McGrath	0	6	4	0	0	0.00
	DPMD Jayawardene	st Gilchrist b Hogg	72	133	88	5	1	81.81
	LPC Silva	c Clarke b Hogg	64	119	107	6	0	59.81
	TM Dilshan	c Hodge b Tait	7	13	12	0	0	58.33
	RP Arnold	b Tait	3	15	10	0	0	30.00
	MF Maharoof	c Symonds b Bracken	25	40	22	4	0	113.63
	KMDN Kulasekara	c Hayden b Bracken	1	5	5	0	0	20.00
	CM Bandara	c Hogg b McGrath	17	23	19	0	2	89.47
	CRD Fernando	not out	0	4	0	0	0	-
	Extras	(lb 5, w 11, nb 3)	19
	Total	(all out; 49.4 overs; 208 mins)	226

Australia innings (target: 227 runs from 50 overs)			R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	AC Gilchrist	lbw b Arnold	30	65	49	4	0	61.22
	ML Hayden	c Dilshan b Arnold	41	56	30	5	2	136.66
	RT Ponting	not out	66	116	80	4	1	82.50
	MJ Clarke	c Dilshan b Bandara	23	38	31	4	0	74.19
	A Symonds	not out	63	66	71	5	2	88.73
	Extras	(w 4, nb 5)	9
	Total	(3 wickets; 42.4 overs; 173 mins)	232

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