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The PM's XI chased down Sri Lanka's 8-131 with one ball and a wicket to spare in a tense T20 match at Canberra's Manuka Oval.

Harry Nielsen, the son of former Australian coach Tim Nielsen, has guided the PM's XI to a narrow T20 victory against Sri Lanka in Canberra on Thursday night.

The hard-hitting wicketkeeper blasted 79 off 49 balls and also took three catches as the PM's XI chased down Sri Lanka's 8-131 with one ball and one wicket to spare at Manuka Oval.

Nielsen, 24, has played just 11 first class matches but the opener proved he could handle an international attack through his match-winning knock.

"I couldn't quite get the job done but it was nice to get a few runs," said Nielsen, who was dismissed with nine runs still required and five balls remaining.

"I was just trying to take it as deep as possible. We kept losing wickets at probably the wrong time and their spinners bowled really well through the middle, I just tried to hit the gaps and run hard."

Sri Lanka could be in for a tough three-game T20 series against Australia next week as they struggled to score against an attack that produced 53 dot balls.

In contrast, a wide from Kasun Rajitha effectively handed the PM XI's victory with the extra carrying the hosts to 9-132.

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat but only three players made more than 11 runs, with Oshada Fernando top scoring with 38.

Canberra local Djali Bloomfield (2-17) started the slide when opener Danushka Gunathilaka edged to Nielsen in the second over.

Test star Peter Siddle (1-15) and veteran allrounder Dan Christian (2-16) were the pick of the bowlers with sharp three-over spells.

"It was a good result in the end, Harry looked after us, that's for sure," Siddle said.

"We gave them a few more than we would have liked in the end but we took wickets along the way which kept us in a good position."

Outside man-of-the-match Nielsen, the PM XI's effort with the bat was woeful with only Christian (13) joining Nielsen in double figures.

Former international Chris Lynn was a notable failure, scoring just three, after grumbling earlier in the week about being left out of Australia's T20 squad.

Lakshan Sandakan (3-21) was the pick of the Sri Lankan attacking, making inroads into the PM XI's batting order in the absence of rested skipper Lasith Malinga.