Australia continue their victory march, overwhelm Lanka by 7 wickets

St George's, Grenada, Apr 16 (UNI) Spearheaded by captain Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds, Australian juggernaut continued to roll on with their relentless victory march as they mowed Sri Lanka by seven wickets to record their fifth straight win in the Super Eights league of the cricket World Cup here today.

Opting to bat first, Sri Lanka scored 226 in 49.4 overs and in reply, the Aussies hit 232 for 3 in 42.4 overs.

For the defending champions, this was their eight straight win in this tournament so far, including three in the group stages and are on top of the ladder with 12 points. They are the only unbeaten team so far in the tournament.

The Australians showed no mercy on their rivals who came into the match without their three main bowlers and finished the job with 7.2 overs to spare.

It was another clinical display by the defending champions as Ponting and Symonds added 106 runs for the fourth wicket without getting separated to take their side to victory.

Playing in his 277th one-day international, Ponting slammed his 61st half century and remained unbeaten on 66 (80 balls, 4x4, 1x6) while Symonds' undefeated 63 (71 balls, 5x4, 2x6) was his 22nd half century in 167 ODIs.

The Australians started on a blistering note and though they lost three wickets -- Gilchrist (30, 49 balls, 4X4), Hayden (41, 30 balls, 5x4, 2x6) and Michael Clarke (23, 31 balls, 4x4) -- they were