Herath for once out-bowled his illustrious spin partner

Bangladesh squandered a good start as they were bowled out for 188 on the opening day of the first Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo.

The tourists lost their last eight wickets for 33 in 10 overs as Rangana Herath took 4-38 and spin partner Muttiah Muralitharan claimed 3-42.

Skipper Habibul Bashar hit 84, his 21st fifty in Tests, but was then run out and the innings went into freefall.

Sri Lanka reached 160-3 after a debut wicket for Bangladesh's Syed Rasel.

The left-armer had home skipper Marvan Atapattu lbw for 18, but although the tourists also dismissed Sanath Jayasuriya (46) and Kumar Sangakkara (30), they are likely to face a sizeable first innings deficit.

Both sides went into the game with two specialist spinners in their XIs as Bangladesh opted to rely on Shahadat Hossain and Rasel, with just one previous Test cap between them, as their only front-line seamers.

But the onus was on their batsmen at the outset after Atapattu won the toss and chose to put them in,

Debutant opener Shahriar Nafees was shaken up by a Lasith Malinga bouncer in the fourth over and the next delivery found a gap between bat and pad before hitting middle stump.

Shahriar departed for three Bashar and Javed Omar, the two most experienced batsmen in their side, responded by counter-attacking with Omar putting Chaminda Vaas away for three fours in one over.

His shot selection let him down with the score on 63, however, when he drove at a wide ball from Fernando and keeper Kumar Sangakkara claimed a good catch to remove him for 30.

Bashar pulls a short ball away to the square leg boundary

Bashar reached his 21st Test fifty off 73 balls by square cutting a ball from Muralitharan for his seventh four and he and Mohammad Ashraful shared a fruitful partnership of 92 either side of the lunch interval.

But a reckless swipe resulted in Ashraful (17) holing out to Fernando off left-armer Herath, who bowled Tushar Imran four nought in his next over.

The home supporters had barely finished their celebrations when Tillakaratne Dilshan's reaction stop and throw from short leg brought Bashar's innings to an end and four balls later Khaled Mashud became the 550th victim of Muralitharan's Test career.

Herath struck again as Aftab Ahmed departed for a first ball duck, with Thilan Samaraweera taking his second catch of the innings.

Mohammad Rafique and Shahadat fell in successive overs to Muralitharan and although Rasel hit four boundaries in a 20-ball cameo, he was last to go for 19 when Sangakkara stumped him off Herath.

Shahadat and Rasel produced a respectable new ball spell as Sri Lanka began their reply, but Rasel's dismissal of Atapattu was the sole breakthrough, although TV replays suggested he was fortunate as the ball appeared to hit the pad via the inside edge.

Jayasuriya and Sangakkara added 56 in 12 overs for the second wicket before Shahadat returned to have deny Jayasuriya a half century with the help of Aftab's sprawling catch at extra cover.

Sangakkara was caught at mid-on off left-arm spinner Rafique with the total on 130 but Samaraweera (33) and Mahela Jayawardene (17) negotiated the final 13 overs as the home side ended the day just 28 runs in arrears.

Sri Lanka: M S Atapattu (Capt), S T Jayasuriya K C Sangakkara (Wkt), D P M D Jayawardene, T T Samaraweera T M Dilshan, W P U J C Vaas, H M R K B Herath, M Muralitharan C R D Fernando, S L Malinga.

Bangladesh: Javed Omar, Shahriar Nafees, Habibul Bashar (Capt) Mohammad Ashraful, Aftab Ahmed, Tushar Imran, Khaled Mashud (Wkt) Mohammad Rafique, Enamul Haque jnr, Syed Rasel, Shahadat Hossain.