Australia Almost through to Finals …

Australia can guarantee itself a finals berth in the Commonwealth Bank Series if it defeats Sri Lanka this Friday at the MCG.

A win would see the Australians move to 21 points, 15 clear of Sri Lanka with all three teams each having played six matches.

The match is also crucial for Sri Lanka's hopes of making the final as a loss this Friday would see it lose control of its own fate in the tournament.

While competitive with India, the World Cup finalists have not been able to match it with Australia this summer.

Beaten 2-0 in the Test series by Australia, the Sri Lankans have also lost both their one-day encounters with the world champion.

Gilly's superb innings

Their bowling has been more than serviceable but it is the side's batting which must be causing coach Trevor Bayliss tremendous concern. He must be glad former protege Brett Lee, who is having his workload managed, will miss Friday's game.

Kumar Sangakkara, the tournament's leading run-scorer with Mahendra Dhoni, and Mahela Jayawardene have carried the side's batting and desperately need more support from the middle order.

If not, it is hard to see Sri Lanka, which has been dismissed for 125 and 173 by the Australians, genuinely threatening Ricky Ponting's side.

Australia, however, has yet to hit its straps in the tournament. As his century in Perth attests, retiring great Adam Gilchrist is clearly far from a spent force, and Michael Clarke has batted with consistency but the rest of the side has not impressed with the bat.

There have been three collapses and only once has Australia passed 250, though in fairness the one-day decks used this summer have not exactly been a batsman's paradise.

Ponting and Andrew Symonds, both without a half-century to their names in the tournament, have had their colours lowered but the Melbourne faithful would love nothing more than seeing that pair rediscover their form on Friday.

Unlike Sri Lanka, Australia has a knack of cobbling competitive totals if several of its batsmen under-perform. That will again prove the difference between the two side