Root tons up as England tame Tigers

England have kick-started their ICC Champions Trophy with a comfortable eight-wicket win over Bangladesh at The Oval thanks largely to a century from No.3 Joe Root.

Root struggled through the second half of his innings with what he later described as "a calf issue", fighting on gamely to hit three figures, in the process becoming just the third Englishman to post 10 ODI hundreds and finishing unbeaten on 133 (129).

The Test skipper played second fiddle to an aggressive Alex Hales (95 off 86) for the first phase of his knock, and never really got out of second gear as he and in-form captain Eoin Morgan (75no) cruised to the target of 306 with 16 balls to spare.

Bangladesh had looked set to post a massive total during a record-breaking stand between Tamim Iqbal (128) and Mushfiqur Rahim (79) but their innings fell away in the closing overs and a total only slightly beyond 300 never looked like seriously troubling this much-vaunted England batting unit.  

The hosts did however suffer an injury blow that could have serious ramifications on their hopes of taking out their maiden piece of ICC ODI silverware, with key paceman Chris Woakes exiting the action with a side strain after bowling two overs.

After Morgan won the toss and elected to bowl, Ben Stokes got the initial breakthrough for England in his first over, the 12th of the innings, with Soumya Sarkar picking out sub Jonny Bairstow at deep cover to depart for 28.

Imrul Kayes made 19 before being well caught by Mark Wood from the bowling off Liam Plunkett (4-59) to leave the innings evenly poised at 2-95 in the 20th over.

For the next 25 overs, it was the Tamim-Mushfiqur show, as the pair put on a stand of 166 – a record for Bangladesh away from home.

Tamim hit three sixes in his ninth ODI century, while Mushfiqur played a superb support innings, going at better than a run-a-ball through the middle overs to steer the tournament underdogs towards a strong total.

The pair fell from consecutive innings in the 45th wicket as Plunkett collected his second and third wickets with the score at 261. 

Shakib Al Hasan (10) fell two overs later and Sabbir Rahman made a quick-fire 24 (15) but Bangladesh could well be left to rue a final six overs that delivered an under-par 46 runs.

England might have come to rue their decision to drop leg-spinner Adil Rashid, with his replacement Jake Ball finishing with figures of 1-82, however their batting was true to form as Hales, Root and Morgan all fired. 

Only out-of-form opener Jason Roy (one) missed out, the right-hander attempting a ramp shot early in his innings to be well caught by Mustafizur Rahman at short fine leg from the bowling of Mashrafe Mortaza.

Hales went hard throughout his innings and fell the same way, attempting a second consecutive six only to pick out deep midwicket and depart five short of his milestone. 

Bangladesh thought they had Morgan on 22 when Tamim Iqbal was denied a brilliant diving catch at long-on by the third umpire, who deemed ball had touched grass.

From that point on, it was all England, as Morgan and Root cantered to their target and in doing so made the first big statement of this 15-match tournament. 

Champions Trophy 2017 Guide

AUSTRALIA SQUAD: Steve Smith (c), David Warner, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, John Hastings, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa

Other squads: Every Champions Trophy squad

Schedule

1 June – England beat Bangladesh by eight wickets

2 June – Australia v New Zealand, Edgbaston (D)

3 June – Sri Lanka v South Africa, The Oval (D)

4 June – India v Pakistan, Edgbaston (D)

5 June – Australia v Bangladesh, The Oval (D/N)

6 June – England v New Zealand, Cardiff (D)

7 June – Pakistan v South Africa, Edgbaston (D/N)

8 June – India v Sri Lanka, The Oval (D)

9 June – New Zealand v Bangladesh, Cardiff (D)

10 June – England v Australia, Edgbaston (D)

11 June – India v South Africa, The Oval (D)

12 June – Sri Lanka v Pakistan, Cardiff (D)

14 June – First semi-final (A1 v B2), Cardiff (D)

15 June – Second semi-final (A2 v B1), Edgbaston (D)

18 June – Final, The Oval (D)

19 June – Reserve day (D)