A fightback with the ball has helped Australia limit Sri Lanka to 8-227 from their 50 overs in the opening contest of the five-match one-day series in Colombo.
Australia were desperate to find form after suffering a 3-0 drubbing in the recent Test series, but it was Sri Lanka - surprisingly given first use of the wicket by Steve Smith - who started brightly to be well placed at the midway point of the innings.
The home side built a strong platform on a dry and slow wicket, moving to 2-124 at over four runs an over before all-rounder James Faulkner (4-38) struck two crucial blows in quick succession.
Faulkner claimed the wicket of Kusal Mendis (67) with the first ball of second spell, before ending the over with the wicket of Angelo Matthews for a duck, after being caught spectacularly by Travis Head.
Mitchell Starc (3-32), who dismissed Kusal Perera in the first over of the innings, returned to take two more wickets as Sri Lanka lost four middle-order wickets for 49 when the brakes were put on the run-rate.
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Starc's second wicket brought up 100 dismissals in one-day international cricket, with the paceman becoming the quickest to do so in his 52nd match, tipping out the previous mark held by Pakistan's Saqlain Mushtaq.
The run-rate slowed dramatically with Sri Lanka failing to find the boundary for more than 15 overs.
Thisara Perera added a quickfire 21 off 14 deliveries, but it Dinesh Chandimal who was the mainstay of the innings with the No.4 compiling a tidy 80 not out.
