Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara hit an unbeaten 73 to take the tournament co-host to 146-3 before rain forced players off the pitch in the Group A match at Colombo's R. Premadasa Stadium.
However, there was no let up in the rain, forcing match officials to call off the game and declare a 'no result'. With no reserve day allocated in case of bad weather, both teams earned a point each.
Australia now has five points in the group, after comfortably winning its two previous matches against Zimbabwe and New Zealand. Sri Lanka also has five after winning two matches — against Canada and Kenya — and losing to Pakistan in its three previous games.
"I think it might have been a very good game of cricket," Australian captain Ricky Ponting told reporters.
"Sangakkara played particularly well. I think at the best stage of the game, 30 odd overs — 140 runs on the board, we thought of making another breakthrough."
Sangakkara also felt the game was reaching a turning point.
"The game was really well poised at that time, 18 overs to go we were realistically looking at anything close to 250 or maybe even slightly above. It could have been a great game of cricket had it continued," he said.
"We'd had quite lot of rain over the last few months and unfortunately today was the first time it really rained during the World Cup. Everyone was expecting to see a great game of cricket out there, so it's disappointing not just for the players but mostly for the spectators as well."
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