Melbourne, Feb 29: After putting up a brave fight, the Aussies lost their last wicket at the score of 208 as Brett Lee was castled by veteran spinner Sanath Jayasuriya. Lee, who scored 37 runs, almost steered the Oz to victory along with Nathan Bracken who remained unbeaten on 14.

Earlier, Sri Lanka pacer Ishara Amerasinghe brought the islanders within sniffing distance of a consolation victory as he gave Australians the ninth blow when he had Mitchell Johnson caught at first slip into the safe hands of captain Mahela Jayawardene.

Muttiah Muralitharan picked up his second wicket of the match to send Brad Hogg back to the pavilion. Murali deceived the left handed Australian batsman with a doosra and trapped him in front of the wicket.

Hussey departed after he was clean bowled by Sri Lankan medium pacer Chamara Kapugedera for a score of five. The dependable batsman could not handle the immense pressure generated on the Australians and found his stumps shattered by the youngster.

The world champions seemed to press the self destruct button as they went sixth down when a well directed slower delivery from Malinga trapped Brad Haddin slap bang in front of the wicket.

Hardly had the Australians recovered from the top order crumble that they lost their fifth wicket in the form of Andrew Symonds who was caught behind off the bowling of Amerasinghe. The world champions lost five wickets for merely 9 runs.

Australia lost their fourth wicket in a span of 32 balls as Kulasekara trapped the captain in form Ponting in front of the wicket. A terrific spell of bowling by the Lankan bowlers saw the world champions loose four very quick wickets.

Amerasinghe bowled Clarke right through his defence to give Sri Lanka an outside chance in their last game in the series. The Australian scorecard suddenly looked three wickets down at 115 which read 107 runs for no loss at one point.

Earlier, Adam Gilchrist walked off the ground to a standing ovation from the crowd after Sri Lanka pacer Nuwan Kulasekara ended the wicketkeeper batsman`s whirlwind innings of 83 runs off just 50 deliveries. It seemed like the southpaw was all geared up to race to his fastest century in his last match at the MCG before Malinga took a good catch at deep mid-off.

Spin wizard Muralitharan spun a vicious web around opener Hopes and bowled him for a score of 24 runs. The ball kissed the stumps and the bails came off later which put the umpires in doubt and they had to refer to the third umpire. Captain Ponting came at the crease to join Gilchrist.

Gilchrist, playing his last ODI against Sri Lanka, gave no respite to the islanders as he whizzed past his half century off just 35 deliveries. The Aussies went past the 100 run mark in just 13 overs riding on the big hitting by the wicketkeeper batsman.

Hopes and Gilchrist started the proceedings for Australia and mixed caution with aggression to give the world champions a solid start. The duo propelled Australia past the fifty run mark, dispatching the loose deliveries past the boundary ropes while giving due respect to the tighter ones.

Earlier, Bracken picked up four wickets to restrict Sri Lanka to 221 runs in 50 overs. The left arm seamer gave away only 29 runs in his allotted 10 overs which included 3 maidens. Brett Lee assisted the New South Wales pacer in sweeping the Lankan tail and not allowing them to put up a huge total.

The Lankan tailenders fell like nine pins in the death overs and thus failed to contribute much to the team’s total and were also unable to capitalize on the hard work put in by captain Jayawardene and Dilshan.

Chamara Silva perished in an attempt to accelerate the team`s run rate as he scooped a catch into the safe hands of Johnson off Bracken. His exploits in the death overs took the islanders past the 200 run mark which seemed unattainable at one point owing to the shaky start the islanders had.

Dilshan played a constructive innings of 62 runs before falling short of the crease and walking back to the pavilion. The middle order batsman held fort after the Jayawardene departed to take the islanders to a respectable total. James hopes displayed a brilliant piece of athleticism to effect the run out.

Spin wizard Hogg trapped Jayawardene in front of the wicket that resulted in sending half the team back to the dressing room. The captain played a gritty knock of 50 runs to rescue his team from falling apart early.

Jayawardene and Dilshan had used all their experience to bail the islanders out of trouble. The Lankans were tottering at 61 runs for the loss of four wickets before the duo carved an important half century partnership and took the total past the 100 run mark.

Sri Lanka had looked in grave danger as Chamara Kapugedera departed after edging a James Hopes delivery to Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist. It seemed like the Lankan batsmen had no other place to hit the ball other than behind the wicket as three out of four batsmen got out as a result of similar shots. Tilakratane Dilshan joined the captain at the 22-yard strip

Sri Lankan innings seemed to fall apart as their experienced batsman Kumara Sangakkara departed after edging a Mitchell Johnson delivery to first slip. Mike Hussey plucked the cherry from mid-air to send the wicketkeeper batsman on a long walk to the pavilion.

Prior to this, Jayasuriya, who looked in menacing form, was claimed by Bracken who induced the left hander into an expansive drive to a delivery outside the off-stump. Captain Jayawardene arrived at the crease to steady the Lankan innings.

Lee provided the first breakthrough as he deceived Perrera with slower yorker that trapped the opener right in front of the wicket. Sangakkara came in to join Jayasuriya at the other end.

Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene had won the toss and elected to bat first against Australia in the final league match of the Commonwealth Bank Series. There was a significant change in the Australian team as opener Matthew Hayden did not figure in the line up.

Sri Lanka left out veteran pacer Chaminda Vaas to give valuable match practise to the younger lot as the result of the match would not affect the composition of the finals in which India and Australia had fixed their berths.