Australia registered a thrilling 15-run victory against Sri Lanka in the first final of the tri-series in Brisbane on Sunday. Batting first, the hosts posted a formidable total of 321 with the loss of six wickets. For Australia, David Warner cracked a scintillating 163. In reply, the Lankan batsmen put up a strong fight while chasing a big target and their tail-enders produced some lusty hits before they fell short by 15 runs.The visiting side would have been in for a humiliating defeat but for the seventh wicket stand between Upul Tharanga and Kulasekara who put up 104 runs off 70 balls. This brought the islanders in a position from where they could achieve a breath-taking win. With persistent drizzle around, the Australian bowlers were finding it difficult to grip the ball and there were a lot of full-tosses and wides bowled in the closing stages. Earlier, David Warner literally clobbered the Sri Lankan bowling attack, especially Lasith Malinga. In fact, his slingers are not posing any problem to the batsmen in the last two matches. It is now to be seen what he will do in the next two encounters because Malinga is rated as one of the dreaded bowlers in the shorter version of the game.