Sri Lanka set a semifinal date with India after seeing off the rather weak challenge of Australia in their ICC Champions Trophy game.
Australia were desperate for a win, and that too by a big margin, to have any chance of making the semis, while Sri Lanka knew a straightforward victory would see them in the final four.
On a day when rain finally decided to take a backseat at The Oval, Sri Lanka, thanks to a brilliant unbeaten 84 (81b, 11x4) from Mahela Jayawardene, posted 253 for eight from their 50 overs.
Australia, who were again without captain Michael Clarke, were obligated to knock down the runs in 29.1 overs to make the semifinals, which they, expectedly, failed to do, eventually folding up for 233 in 42.3 overs to hand Sri Lanka a 20-run win.
The Aussies, the two-time defending champions, bow out of the tournament without a single win and are now left wondering just how they will be able to compete against England in the upcoming Ashes.
"We said at the start of the tournament that you need to start well," stand-in skipper George Bailey said. You get to dictate terms, your confidence is up, and, obviously, the way weather came into it and that ends up playing a really big part.
"So, yeah, I'd say there was a little bit of bad luck. We were really confident in the score we had against New Zealand on that one wicket. We thought it would be enough. We thought we'd started really well, but I guess that's part of the game. There is not much you can do about that.
Jayawardene, who reached the milestone of 11,000 runs during his knock, felt Sri Lanka always had the game under control, despite a last-wicket partnership from Xavier Doherty and Clint McKay, which threatened to derail Lanka's charge.
"I think the entire time the situation probably dictated how the game was unfolding," he said.
"I mean, they were going hard up front to try and qualify within those 29 overs, so we knew there was an opportunity for us to grab wickets which we did.
"Obviously, when they stopped doing that, we knew we had the time that we need to take three wickets. So two wickets at that particular time, which is always going to be tough because they only had to score two or three times an over. So we had to be a bit more creative and be patient.
"So it was a fascinating game of cricket purely because of the situations where Australia was and where we were."
Sri Lanka now take on India, who beat them in a warm-up game prior to the start of the tournament, on Thursday - hosts England face South Africa in the first semifinal a day earlier - and Jayawardene is confident of a positive result.
"I think they're playing some really good cricket," the former captain added. "Their batting looks really strong, so those are key areas that we need to focus a bit on, but it's the semifinal.
"Warm-up games or whatever, it doesn't count right now. It's a big tournament. It's the semifinal, so looking forward to that."
