Kane Richardson and Ashton Agar played as Australia won by six wickets in Canberra and an unassailable 3-1 advantage on the Twenty20 game with Sri Lanka.
The visitors were limited to 121-6, with Richardson (3-21) and Agar (1-14) playing an eye on the scoring.
Glenn Maxwell scored 39 while captain Aaron Finch hit 35 as Australia hit 124-4 with 19 balls left.
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The fourth match of the five-match series will take place in Melbourne the day before on Friday.
“No good news today. But a bad start for our players, as has been the case throughout the entire series,” said Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka.
Australia was not without Steve Smith after he was injured while saving six players with a diving stop during the team’s previous game at Sydney.
All-rounder Daniel Sams replaced his place in the team and made a stunning fly catch deep in the water to hand Maxwell the much-coveted wicket Pathum Nissanka, Sri Lanka’s most prolific run-scorer of this tournament, who was dismissed with 16.
Richardson put 44 runs in exchange for his one wicket in Sydney, was awed by the conditions, and tossed everything was his way launching in Canberra.
“I was not at my best last night, and it was good to bounce back. I feel that the pitch, especially bowling first, was a good match for my strengths,” he said.
