Australian cricket sank to a new low in arguably the greatest upset in the sport's history, losing to Bangladesh in the tri-series one-day match at Cardiff's Sophia Gardens.

Unbackable at the start of the day against a side that had never come close to Australia and had won just nine of its 107 previous one-day matches, the world champions could not prevent the bottom-ranked one-day side winning by five wickets.

Bangladesh (5-250) overhauled Australia's 5-249 with four balls to spare.

One English bookie had offered odds of 1-500 for Australia and 33-1 in the event of Bangladesh winning.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting braced himself for a barrage of criticism - both from home and from the English press.

"It's probably a good idea if we don't read any of the papers or anything tomorrow morning, but it's all going to be fair criticism I'm sure," he said.

"It's probably one of the biggest upsets of the game, today, and we've got to be made aware of that and if that doesn't click us into gear and into shape then nothing will."

Bangladesh built its greatest-ever win on some accurate bowling, 20-year-old Mohammad Ashraful's magnificent 100, a fine 47 from captain Habibul Bashar and some late hitting from Aftab Ahmed (21 not out).

Aftab smashed a six over mid-wicket off the first ball off Jason Gillespie's final over to level the scores. Next ball he and partner Mohammad Rafique scampered through for a quick single to spark wild celebrations.

Australia's loss was its third in a week and came on top of a minor shoulder injury to paceman Brett Lee and a disciplinary investigation involving batsman Andrew Symonds.

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