Australia survive scare to beat Sri Lanka and secure maiden victory at 2023 Cricket World Cup

Australia claimed a five-wicket victory against Sri Lanka on Monday afternoon to recover from back-to-back ICC Cricket World Cup defeats to South Africa and India.

Pat Cummins' side were thumped by the South Africans in their previous outing, losing by 134 runs, and looked out of sorts with the bat.

But they were on better form on Monday, with Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglis securing half-centuries to help surpass Sri Lanka's score of 209 with five wickets in hand.

It was Australia's first win at the tournament and sees them move to eighth in the World Cup standings, two points off qualification for the knockout stages.

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first. They made an imperious start and looked to be cruising to a hefty total after Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera registered an outstanding first-wicket stand of 125.

However, they collapsed from 125-0 to 209 all out, resuming on 157-1 after a brief 25-minute rain delay.

The breakthrough and subsequent domino effect began when David Warner made an impressive catch after coming in from the boundary to get Australia off the mark to dismiss Nissanka.

Perera then followed on 78 with Cummins hitting the stumps after the batsman misjudged the flight of the ball, and finally the Australians were making inroads into the Sri Lankan top order.

Adam Zampa took the wickets of Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama in the space of three overs, with Warner once again showing his class in the field, taking another catch to dismiss the former.

The covers were on after another rain delay, but as play resumed, Australia picked up where they left off when Dhananjaya de Silva was dismissed by Mitchell Starc, who claimed his 54th ODI World Cup wicket to put him inside the top five wicket-takers in the tournament's history.

Sri Lanka were now on the ropes and had lost four wickets for 21 runs, with their rampant start now a distant memory.

Dunith Wellalage was made to pay in his attempts to run a single and Cummins strained every sinew to hit the stumps.

Charith Asalanka gave Sri Lanka a much-needed six to increase their total to 193-6, before Chamika Karunaratne was out for just two by lbw off the bowling of Zampa.

Another lbw followed, as Maheesh Theekshana went for a duck before Starc dismissed Lahiru Kumara after 43.3 overs, as they ended on 209 all out.

After failing to surpass 200 runs against India and South Africa, Australia came out and looked much better with the bat, but they did have to fight for the win, with Warner dismissed lbw for 11 by Dilshan Madushanka after facing just six balls.

Steve Smith came in to replace him but after facing five balls, was also sent walking for a duck by Madushanka, who took another lbw. Marsh, who had struck a whopping nine fours during his 67-minute spell at the crease, was subsequently run out by Dimuth Karunaratne and things started to look a bit concerning for Australia.

But their middle order steadied the ship, with Marnus Labushagne coming to the crease and hitting 40 runs off 60 balls, with Josh Inglis joining him in the middle to strike up a partnership of 77.

Labuschagne would subsequently be dismissed by Madushanka after he was caught by Dimuth Karunaratne at mid-wicket, with Inglis hitting a top score of 58 for Australia.

Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis would both arrive late on to wrap things up for Australia, making a partnership of 23 to help secure the five-wicket victory.

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