England ride on a brilliant unbeaten century by Joe Root to thrash Bangladesh by eight wickets in the Champions Trophy opener at London today
England's Joe Root celebrates reaching 100 during the ICC Champions trophy cricket match between England and Bangladesh at The Oval in London on Thursday. Pic/AFP
England ride on a brilliant unbeaten century by Joe Root to thrash Bangladesh by eight wickets in the Champions Trophy opener at London today.
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Root breezed to his 10th ODI hundred as title favourites England began their tournament campaign with a thrashing of minnows Bangladesh.
Besides Root (133 not out off 129), contributions from opener Alex Hales (95 off 86) and captain Eoin Morgan (75 not out off 61) helped England chase down the 306-run target in 47.2 overs. It was the first time that 300 was successfully chased in the tournament history.
Earlier, opener Tamim Iqbal hit a stylish hundred to guide Bangladesh to a competitive 305 for six. Courtesy Tamim's (128 off 142 balls) ninth ODI hundred and a 166-run partnership for the third wicket with Mushfiqur Rahim (79 off 72), Bangladesh shrugged off the disappointment of a batting debacle against India in the practice game.
The visitors made a safe start with Tamim and Soumya Sarkar (28) adding 56 runs for the opening wicket. Imrul Kayes (19) didn't score too many but the two senior pros, Tamim and Rahim then batted responsibly on a placid Oval track.
The stylish Tamim hit 12 boundaries and three sixes in his innings while Rahim struck eight boundaries in his 72-ball knock.
Tamim started on a cautious note getting his first boundary off 21st ball that he faced. His first confident shot was a straight drive off Mark Wood followed by a whip to long-leg.
He cut and pulled with ferocity to to complete the 50 off 71 balls. The six came off Moeen Ali -- an inside out lofted shot over long-off.
The century also came when he tapped Ali for a single to complete it off 124 balls. It seemed that Bangladesh would get close to 330 but England fought back through Liam Plunkett who dismissed Tamim and Rahim off successive balls in the 45th over.
The twin strikes affected the scoring rate a bit before Sabbir Rahman smashed 24 off 15 balls to take his team past 300.
Medium pacer Plunkett was the pick of the bowlers for England, taking four wickets in his 10 overs and conceding 59 runs.
The 50th over was bowled by Plunkett and it went for just five runs.
Brief scores: Bangladesh 305/6 in 50 overs (Iqbal 128; Plunkett 4/59). England 308/2 in 47.2 overs (Root 133 not out,
Morgan 75 not out, Hales 95).
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