Australia dumped out

Australia's Ashes preparation took a massive blow as they suffered the ignominy of exiting the World Twenty20 at the earliest opportunity.

Sri Lanka's six-wicket victory at Trent Bridge ensured their qualification for the Super Eights stage but left Ricky Ponting and co with an unwanted fortnight to fill before their Ashes tour proper begins.

An all-round Australian batting effort had earlier seen them post 159 for nine, despite three wickets each for paceman Lasith Malinga and mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis.

Opener Tillakaratne Dilshan set Sri Lanka on their way with 53 before captain Kumar Sangakkara's unbeaten 55 saw his side home with six balls to spare.

A previously unscheduled stay in Leicester therefore beckons, at the start of their Ashes summer, for Ricky Ponting's tourists - from where their lot will be as outsiders looking in on a competition still containing their hosts, among nine countries hoping to reach the Lord's final on June 21.

Ponting and Co were rarely in an advantageous position from the moment they were put in on a pitch which was to prove spin-friendly throughout.

Their biggest problem was soon the bowling of mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis, who finished with three for 20 from his two sets of two overs in an innings which featured no individual contribution better than Mitchell Johnson and David Hussey's 28 each.

Sri Lanka's long tail made for some nail-biting, after Dilshan's half-ton, but Sangakkara batted sensibly and skilfully, with four fours and two successive sixes off Nathan Hauritz in his 50 - and his team's perceived frailties in batting depth therefore never came into the equation.

For Australia, the reliance on pace over spin on a surface and in a format which favoured the latter was clearly a telling factor.

Lee's four overs cost 39 runs, and it was off his bowling that - with the game more or less already won - Jehan Mubarak drove through the despairing fingertips of Mike Hussey at mid-off for a four which erased all doubt about the outcome.