1 June 2017 10:57 pm
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.