Joe Root's career-best unbeaten 133 saw England to an eight-wicket win over Bangladesh in the opening match of the 2017 Champions Trophy at the Oval on Thursday. England, set 306 for victory, finished on 308 for two with 16 balls to spare. Root's innings was his highest in one-day internationals, surpassing his 125 against South Africa at Centurion last year. England's total was also the highest score by a team batting second to win a Champions Trophy match, topping Sri Lanka's 297 for three against them at the Oval four years ago. Root put on 159 with opener Alex Hales (95) and an unbroken 143 for the third wicket with skipper Eoin Morgan (75 not out).
But worryingly for England, bidding to win their first major International Cricket Council ODI trophy, paceman Chris Woakes bowled just two overs before suffering a potentially tournament-ending left side strain. And Jason Roy, a day after Morgan guaranteed his tournament place, fell for just one - his fifth single figure score in his last six ODI innings. Meanwhile Root suffered a calf injury while batting. "Hopefully it is more cramp and me being a bit wet," said Root, the man-of-the-match, at the presentation ceremony.
England were rarely troubled during their run-chase and Root, England's recently-appointed Test captain, said: "We are a (one-day) side that are getting better at it (chasing totals in excess of 300). "Alex Hales isn't going to score slowly. We knew if one of the top four were not out we would be in a good position." Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza added: "In the middle patches we couldn't get any wickets and Root and Morgan took the game away from us.
"We need more variety in our attack." Earlier Tamim Iqbal's 128 was the centrepiece of Bangladesh's 305 for six after they lost the toss. Tamim received excellent support from Mushfiqur Rahim (79) in a third-wicket partnership of 166. That was Bangladesh's highest ODI stand outside of Asia, surpassing the 141 put on by Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah when they knocked England out of the 2015 World Cup with a 15-run win in Adelaide. Both batsmen, however, fell in successive balls from Liam Plunkett to leave Bangladesh 261 for four in the 45th over. Fast bowler Plunkett took four wickets for 59 runs from his maximum 10 overs. England came into this tournament, featuring the world's top eight ODI sides, having made huge strides in white-ball cricket in the past two years.
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Scoreboard Bangladesh
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T. Iqbal c Buttler b Plunkett 128
S. Sarkar c sub (Bairstow) b Stokes 28
I. Kayes c Wood b Plunkett 19
M. Rahim c Hales b Plunkett 79
S. Al Hasan c Stokes b Ball 10
S. Rahman c Roy b Plunkett 24
Mahmuduallah not out 6
M. Hossain not out 2
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Extras: (b1, lb1, w7) 9
Total: (6 wkts, 50 overs) 305
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Did not bat: Mashrafe Mortaza, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman
Fall of wickets: 1-56 (Sarkar), 2-95 (Kayes), 3-261 (Tamim), 4-261 (Mushfiqur), 5-277 (Shakib), 6-300 (Sabbir)
Bowling: Woakes 2-1-4-0; Wood 10-1-58-0 (1w); Ball 10-1-82-1; Stokes 7-0-42-1 (1w); Plunkett 10-0-59-4 (2w); Ali 8-1-40-0 (1w); Root 3-0-18-0 (2w)
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England
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J. Roy c M. Rahman b M. Mortaza 1
A. Hales c sub (S. Islam) b S. Rehman 95
J. Root not out 133
E. Morgan not out 75
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Extras: (lb2, w2) 4
Total: (2 wkts, 47.2 overs) 308
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