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Sri Lanka ride Dilshan, Sangakkara tons

Veterans post centuries as Sri Lanka thrash Bangladesh at the MCG

The opening overs of each innings told the story of Sri Lanka's thumping Cricket World Cup win over Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka gained a much-needed boost in this tournament when they outclassed Bangladesh by 92 runs on Thursday night at the MCG.

Tillakaratne Dilshan's highest one-day score of 161 not out and an unbeaten 105 from Kumar Sangakkara in his 400th ODI propelled their team to 1-332.

Bangladesh were always on the back foot in their MCG debut and were bowled out for 240 with three overs left.

Lahiru Thirimanna was coming off a first-ball duck against Afghanistan when he edged Masrafe Mortaza to Anamul Haque off the fourth ball of the match.

Anamul dropped the most basic of chances at first slip and Thirimanna went on to score a scratchy 52.

It was the first of a string of poor fielding efforts from Bangladesh, who gave Thirimanna another two lives and two to Sangakkara as well.

By contrast, paceman Lasith Malinga produced a gem of a delivery to bowl Tamim Iqbal two balls into the Bangladesh innings.

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While Sri Lanka's fielding was also far less than their best, it was nowhere near as costly.

The win steadies their tournament after they opened with a big loss to New Zealand and a narrow win over Afghanistan.

Dilshan scored his unbeaten 161 from 196 balls and hit 22 fours.

Sangakkara's 22nd one-day ton was off 76 balls with 13 fours and a six.

Bangladesh scored 60 from their opening 10 overs, but they also lost three wickets and the innings quickly ran out of steam.

Shabbir Rahman Roman top scored with 53 and Shakib Al Hasan made 46.

Malinga had Shabbir caught behind and then trapped Taskin Ahmed lbw with the next delivery to end the match.

Malinga finished with 3-35 from nine overs.

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Dilshan, predictably named man of the match, also broke the record for the highest Sri Lankan score in a World Cup.

Aravinda de Silva scored 145 against Kenya on the way to their 1996 triumph.

He said Thursday's performance was an important confidence boost for the team.

"Definitely this is a really important game for us," he said.

"We didn't play 100 per cent in the last two games.

"Every department, we did really well."

Mortaza bemoaned the performance in the field, saying Bangladesh's bowling as well as their fielding was not good enough.

"Definitely, dropped catches are hurting us," he said.

"At the same time, as a bowling group we were not up to the mark today.

"We need to work it out."

Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews (capt), Dinesh Chandimal, T.M. Dilshan, Rangana Herath, Mahela Jayawardena, Dimuth Karunarathne, Suranga Kakmal, Lasith Malinga, Thisara Perera, Kumar Sangakarra, Lahiru Thirimanna,

Bangladesh: Masrafe Bin Mortaza (capt), Taskin Ahmed, Anamul Haque Bijoy, Sakib Al Hasan, Rubel Hossain, Tamim Iqbal, Shabbir Rahman Roman, Mushfiqur Rahim, Soumya Sarkar, Mominul Hoque Showrab, MD Muhmud Ullah.