Root stars in England win

Roy’s miserable summer of scoring continued on Thursday when the right-handed opener was dismissed for 1 in England’s Champions Trophy curtain-raiser against Bangladesh at The Oval.

The only disappointment in an otherwise impressive England innings was when opener Jason Roy fell for one on his Surrey home ground.

Any chance for the away team were extinguished though by the partnership between Root and Hales before Morgan hit a few lusty blows to get England over the line.

Root and Morgan shared 143 for the third wicket, while the Yorkshireman showed deftness and intelligence to post his highest ever score in a one-day worldwide.

Hales however, missed out on a well-deserved hundred.

Th duo added valuable 165-run partnership, before getting out on two back to back balls of the 45th over.

Root was going at solid at the other end, busy collecting the ones and twos with incoming batsman Eoin Morgan expectedly going for his shots. “If we want our players to play cagey or without freedom, yes, we would change things and probably half of us wouldn’t be here”, Morgan said. He ended with 11 4s and a single six.

He did start to move more easily again later in his innings, though both he and Stokes will be monitored ahead of England’s second game, against New Zealand in Cardiff on Tuesday.

Liam Plunkett (4-59) helped to ensure England managed without perhaps their most reliable performer of all, keeping Bangladesh to 305-6 on a very good pitch at The Oval despite Tamim Iqbal’s 128 and his stand of 166 with Mushfiqur Rahim (79).

Earlier, losing the toss, Mashrafe Mortaza’s team came out to bat but very unlikely to the warm up matche against India, opening unit went off to a good start to only lose Soumya Sarkar while he was batting at 28.

Tamim top-edged Plunkett and was caught behind, and Mushfiqur was caught on the boundary.

Mushfiqur then punished Ball for dropping short by cutting him to the third man boundary.

Root deftly worked the ball off his pads and behind square on the off side and, despite being in obvious discomfort after suffering the injury on 61, completed a 10th ODI hundred.

England will therefore face a significant test of their big-hitting credentials to get themselves up and running in their own tournament against opponents who beat them in each of the last two World Cups, most recently ending their hopes with a 15-run success at Adelaide in 2015.

Hales, rarely troubled by a Bangladesh attack lacking a genuine fast bowler, struck a four and a six off successive Sabbir Rahman balls only to hole out off the leg-spinner’s next delivery.

Woakes bowled two overs before being forced off and Bangladesh racked up a competitive total of 305 for six before Joe Root’s 133 not out guided England to an easy victory.

But there was no hiding Morgan’s concern regarding Woakes, with the skipper telling reporters: “It is a worry when he goes off the field and can’t come back on and bowl”.