The second seeded team in the ICC's one-day rankings were aided by the Tigers' poor fielding display as they made 269-9 after being put in by Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar under overcast conditions at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground.

Opener Upul Tharanga and skipper Marvan Atapattu both made scratchy half-centuries but it was Mahela Jayawardene's explosive 35-ball 50 that really bolstered the innings after Bangladesh bowlers had pegged them back by giving away just 94 runs in 20 overs of fielding restrictions.The Tigers never looked like challenging the second highest total against them by Sri Lanka despite the pitch being perfect for strokeplay. They lost five wickets in the space of 24 runs to slump to 103-8 but a Bangladesh record 54 runs stand for the tenth wicket between Khaled Mashud and Tapash Baisya saw them crawl to 181-9 in 50 overs. Bangladesh's previous highest partnership for the tenth wicket was 46 between Mohammad Rafique and Mushfiqur Rahman against Pakistan in Multan in 2003.

Mashud's 39 on his 100th ODI appearance made him joint top-scorer in the innings with opener Shahriar Nafees Ahmed.

Tharanga, who lost his senior partner Sanath Jayasuriya after putting on 51 in eight overs, added another 77 with Atapattu but he should thank Nafees and Mohammad Ashraful for dropping him on eight (off Syed Rasel at second slip) and 58 (off Aftab Ahmed at point). The left-hander eventually reached his first one-day fifty but soon perished for 60 (80 balls; 8x4) when he was bowled by Aftab Ahmed. Atapattu's 55 came off 92 deliveries but he was also floored by slip fielder Nafees off Tapash Baisya, who had earlier clean bowled Jayasuriya for 25 to make the first breakthrough for Bangladesh. Nafees' miserable day in the field continued when he missed another catch offered at long off from Chaminda Vaas.

Man-of the-match Jayawardene found no support from the tail but the stylish right-hander kept the scorers busy with trademark drives, pulls, late cuts and sweeps which fetched him eight fours. He completed his fifty in the very last ball of the innings with a single but was run out while attempting a second.

Three wickets fell in the final over and two of them went to debutant Syed Rasel, the left-arm swing bowler who finished with 2-42 and was by far the most impressive Bangladesh bowler.

Javed Omar struck two beautiful straight drives to get the Tigers off to a flying start in their chase but was run out for 14 in the fifth over. It was his call but the veteran opener was too slow to return to his crease after being sent back by Nafees for what was an improbable single.

First-change paceman Dilhara Fernando bagged Tushar Imran and Ashraful in successive overs and hopes of a fight ended when Nafees, who was going fluently, was spectacularly caught by a diving Tilekeratne Dilshan off his own bowling.

It was all over when Bashar was controversially given out lbw by umpire Ashoka de Silva to leg-spinner Upul Chandana when the ball was clearly going out after pitching on the off-stump.

Farveez Maharoof returned to destroy the tail in his second spell, finishing with 3-29, but Mashud and Baisya delayed the inevitable. They also made sure that star offspinner Muttiah Muralitharan went without a wicket for the first time in a match against Bangladesh.