Joe Root’s century seals it for England; hosts stroll past Bangladesh by 8 wickets in ICC Champions Trophy 2017 opener

The chief architects of England's win were Man of the Match Root, who hit a fine unbeaten hundred and Alex Hales and skipper Eoin Morgan, who also hit fluent fifties.

Joe Root hit a fine 133*, his 10th ODI hundred © AFP

Title favourites England started their ICC Champions Trophy 2017 campaign in style, hammering Bangladesh by 8 wickets in the tournament opener at The Oval on Thursday. Chasing 306 to win, England made short work of the Bangladesh bowling, hunting down the target by losing just 2 wickets and with 16 balls to spare. The chief architects of their win were Man of the Match Joe Root, who hit a fine unbeaten hundred, Alex Hales, and skipper Eoin Morgan, who also hit fluent fifties. Bangladesh, who were guided to 305 thanks to Tamim Iqbal’s majestic 128, had simply no answer to stop the English onslaught. Root (133)*, Hales (95) and Morgan (75)* overshadowed Tamim’s effort. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD, ICC Champions Trophy 2017, England vs Bangladesh – Match 1

The chase, however, did not start on a good note for England, as they lost Jason Roy early. Roy, who has been out of form for a while, added another bad outing to his account and missed out on a fantastic opportunity to get back in form. He fell to a terrific catch by Mustafizur Rahman on the edge of the circle at short fine leg while trying to scoop Mashrafe Mortaza for four. However, with skipper Morgan already having announced that Roy will play throughout the tournament despite his poor form, the latter will find some solace in trying times.

Hales and Root then flattened Bangladesh, dashing 160 million hopes. Hales was the more aggressive of the two, scoring his runs at a strike rate beyond 100. He brought up his half-century in 52 balls with the help of 7 fours. Once he reached to the landmark, Hales unleashed more wrath on the Bangladeshi bowlers, scoring his next 45 runs in 33 balls with the help of 4 fours and 2 sixes.

Just when he looked set to get to his sixth ODI hundred Hales fell for a poor shot, but not before adding 159 for the second wicket with Root. He went for a slog sweep — after having hit previous two balls for four and six — and got caught at deep mid-wicket for 86-ball 95.

Morgan then joined Root. The two virtually made the chase a stroll in the park for England. The duo did not give any chance to the Bangladesh side, barring a controversial call in the 36th over. A lofted shot played by Morgan was caught by Tamim at long-on, but the umpire sent the decision upstairs, ruling ‘not out’ as the soft signal. Tamim, who felt it was a clean catch, was visibly unhappy and seen arguing with the on-field umpire S Ravi.

Barring this hiccup, England cruised towards the target with both Morgan and Root exploding in the later stages of the chase. Root completed his 10th ODI hundred in the process while Morgan brought up his fifty as well. The two batsmen added 143 runs in their unbroken partnership.

Earlier, on a sunny day and a good pitch that promised plenty of runs, Morgan won the toss and elected to bowl. His decision was perhaps influenced by Indian pacers’ routing of Bangladesh in the warm-up game. However, there was no repetition of Bangladesh’s shambolic 84-run effort, as Tamim’s 9th hundred and Mushfiqur Rahim’s 25th fifty enabled them to post 305 for 6 in 50 overs.

Bangladesh openers put up their best stand against England in England — adding 56 runs. They were tentative to begin with, but grew in confidence as the game progressed. England were jolted early, as Chris Woakes was ruled out of the game, and possibly the tournament, after bowling just two overs.

Playing with one bowler less in conditions conducive for batting it was always going to be difficult for England. Bangladesh capitalised on the same. The hallmark of their innings was key partnerships by their top-order batsmen. After the fifty-run opening stand, Tamim and Imrul Kayes added 39 for second wicket and Tamim and Mushfiqur added a record 166 for the third wicket. It was only after the fall of the two men on successive balls that Bangladesh lost the momentum and faltered towards the end, thus losing out on 15-20 runs.

For a change, England’s bowling at the death looked good. Liam Plunkett was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4 for 59, but Jake Ball conceded 82 runs from his spell of 10 overs.

Brief scores:

Bangladesh 305 for 6 (Tamim Iqbal 128, Mushfiqur Rahim 79; Liam Plunkett 4 for 59, Ben Stokes 1 for 42) lose to England 308/2 in 47.2 overs (Joe Root 133*, Alex Hales 95, Eoin Morgan 75*; Sabbir Rahman 1 for 13, Mashrafe Mortaza 1 for 56) by 8 wickets.