Farveez Maharoof did the early damage in Bangladesh's innings

Sri Lanka made heavy weather of their run chase before beating Bangladesh in the first game of their one-day series.

They bowled out the home side for just 118 in Bogra and knocked off the runs in 24.1 overs for a five-wicket win.

Only three Bangladesh batsmen reached double figures, with Khaled Mahmud's 36 in his final innings the top score.

Kumar Sangakkara (50) and Mahela Jayawardene (35) put on 70 for Sri Lanka but they lost three late wickets before finally wrapping things up.

"It was a failure of our batsmen, who were away from international cricket for more than four months. They could not utilise a good wicket," Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar commented.

Sri Lanka went into the game in confident mood, having recently reached the VB Series final in Australia.

But they were without a number of senior players including skipper Marvan Atapattu, new ball bowler Chaminda Vaas and spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.

Vaas's absence was certainly not felt at the start after Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat first.

Farveez Maharoof took three wickets with the new ball and with Ruchira Perera weighing in by bowling Aftab Ahmed for 21 when he missed an attempted swing to leg and then having Khaled Mashud caught behind, Bangladesh soon found themselves in dire straits on 37-5.

Bashar managed only two before he fell to Dilhara Fernando, who claied another success when Mohammad Rafique was caught by Sanath Jayasuriya for six.

Chasing small totals can be dangerous at times Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene

Mahmud, who had previously announced his intention to retire from international cricket after the match, hit a six and four boundaries before he was lbw to Jayasuriya.

And it took an unbeaten 19 from Alok Kapali, making his first appearance for over a year, to ensure the Bangladesh total reached three figures.

Maharoof finished with figures of 3-30, while Perera's 3-23 was the best performance of his one-day career.

Sri Lanka made a shaky start to their reply with Jehan Mubarak bowled by Syed Rasel for four.

Mashrafe Mortaza picked up veteran Jayasuriya's wicket when he played on for 13 but Sangakkara and captain Jayawardene put the outcome beyond any doubt.

It looked like the pair would see Sri Lanka home before the home side staged a late rally with three wickets in four overs.

Kapali had Sangakkara caught by Mortaza and slow left-armer Rafique put paid to Chamara Kapugedera and Tillakaratne Dilshan for nought and two respectively.

But the contest was ended when Jayawardene chopped the first ball of the 25th over down to third man for the winning runs.

"We made some silly mistakes towards the end. The good part for us was that our pacers bowled their hearts out," Jayawardene commented.