Sydney: Australia crushed Sri Lanka by 128 runs in a surprisingly lopsided tri-series one-day international at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday.

Australia racked up a respectable total of 253 for 6 from their 50 overs then bowled the Sri Lankans out for just 125 in the first meeting between the sides since last year's World Cup final in Barbados.

Adam Gilchrist and Michael Clarke both made half-centuries while left-arm seamer Nathan Bracken took career-best figures of 5-47 to win the Man-of-the-Match award.

Just five Sri Lankan players made double figures and the only player to score more than 20 was Kumar Sangakkara, who battled to a 42.

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene ordered his players to attend a team meeting after the match where he told them they had to lift their game.

"We had quite a few things to discuss, especially the way we batted today," he told a news conference. "The group of players that we've got has the ability to beat Australia definitely, but everyone needs to believe in that.

"We don't want the lineup to be too negative because we have a very talented group of players so we just need to make sure they get their heads in the right place."

Both teams struggled to score quickly on pitch that had much juice in it.