Nathan Bracken’s five-wicket haul inspired Australia to a comfortable 128-run victory over an out-of-sorts Sri Lanka at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

AUSTRALIA ruthlessly swept aside their closest challengers on the international stage to march relentlessly towards a fourth successive World Cup final.

Australia cruised to their 20th successive World Cup win at the expense of an under-strength Sri Lanka today to make almost certain of topping the Super Eight table.

Damien Martyn, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz paid the price for Australia’s Ashes failure Tuesday when they were axed from the Test squad to face a World XI next month.