Root trumps Tamim ton as England chase down Bangladesh's 305

A sparkling Joe Root century and gritty knocks from Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales have powered England to a commanding 8-wicket win over Bangladesh in the Champions Trophy opener.

Asked to bat first, Bangladesh rode on a superb ton from Tamim Iqbal, complemented by a fine knock from Mushfiqur Rahim in a record overseas stand to post 305 for 6 at The Oval on Thursday.

England responded with two century stands of their own as the classy Root steered them to a winning start in the elite global tournament with 16 balls to spare.

Root struck a sparkling career-best 133 not out to surpass his previous best (125), featuring in decisive partnerships with Hales (95) and Morgan (75 not out).

Hales and Root laid a strong base for England for the competitive chase as they fashioned a staggering 159-run stand in the second wicket.

Their 153-ball stand featured a stream of well calculated shots, safely seeing England more than half-way through the big chase.

Hales was more aggressive of the pair, cracking 11 boundaries and two sixes in his 86-ball innings after Mashrafe Bin Mortaza gave Bangladesh an early breakthrough by taking out Jason Roy for 1.

Hales reached his half-century from 52 balls before Root scored his from 59 balls as the Lions cruised to 100 in the 19th over.

Mashrafe gave his ace in the hole, Mustafizur Rahman, two overs in the initial powerplay and waited for the ball to get old to bring him back into the attack in the 21st over for a four-over spell.

The youngster troubled England with his change ups but the batsmen played him watchfully while taking on the bowlers at the other end. Even Shakib Al Hasan (0-62 in 8 overs) was blasted for 15 by Hales in the 23rd over.

Mashrafe then gave Sabbir Hossain a go with his legspin and the allrounder was clubbed for a four and a six in successive deliveries. But Hales got carried away and holed out at deep midwicket with a slog sweep, falling five runs short of a century.

Morgan then joined Root in the middle and kept the runs flowing, pairing in another 143-run partnership to take the game away from Mashrafe and his men.

Bangladesh came close to bagging another wicket when Morgan launched Mashrafe towards long on where Tamim made a brilliant diving effort.

Having given a soft-signal against Bangladesh, the umpires reviewed the incident and the third umpire’s verdict came quickly, just after two replays, that the ball was grassed.

Limping through the innings after his half-century, Root calmly went past his 10th century off 115 balls as England drew closer to their target.

After reaching his century, Root put his foot on the gas and smashed the ball to all corners of the ground, lacing his 129-ball innings with 11 boundaries and a six.

All the Bangladesh bowlers, barring Mashrafe (1-56) and Mustafizur (0-51), conceded more than a run-a-ball.

Earlier, Tamim smashed a scintillating century and paired in a brilliant partnership with Mushfiqur to power Bangladesh to 305 for 6.

The elegant left-handed opener continued his rich vein of form with a spectacular 142-ball 128 to shepherd his team to the competitive total against the hosts.

The Tigers middle-order lynchpin, Mushfiqur, played a valuable 72-ball 79 which complemented his 166-run third wicket stand with Tamim.

It put Bangladesh in with a strong chance to spring a stunning win in the Group A game.

Bangladesh batsmen scored 82 runs in the last 10 overs to push the total to their highest against England in a 50-over game.

After England elected to field first, early swing from Chris Woakes and good pace from Mark Wood made sure Bangladesh openers were off to a sedate start.

Tamim and Soumya Sarkar (28) could score just 6 runs off the first 4 overs. But the latter freed his arms with back-to-back boundaries after Jake Ball replaced Woakes who went off the field with a side strain.

The openers negotiated the powerplay safely, scoring 36 runs off the first 10 overs.

Soumya then stepped up and blasted a six and two boundaries off Ball to notch the fifty-run opening stand. But he perished in the next over when he cut a short ball from Ben Stokes straight to deep cover to England the first breakthrough.

Tamim and Imrul Kayes (19) steadily added 39 before the latter miscued Liam Plunkettt to long on and Bangladesh lost their second wicket before reaching 100.

Mushfiqur took little time to play himself in, sending his team past 100 with a crisp drive off Plunkett who was whipped through point later in the over by Tamim for his patient half-century off 71 balls.

The pair were briefly watchful before they began to pace the innings brilliantly by rotating the strike regularly and cracking boundaries whenever on offer.

Tamim drove, cut, flicked and trickled some fine with sublime touch while Mushfiqur played a deft hand at the other end, both cautious about not losing any wicket in the mid-overs. Bangladesh reached 150 in 28 overs.

With the batsmen milking the runs on either side of the wicket, Stokes engaged in an exchange with Tamim after being hit for a boundary in the 32nd over, but the umpire intervened.

Having shown fine temperament thus far, Mushfiqur drove down the ground to bring up his 25th half-century off 47 deliveries and get the century stand with Tamim.

Mushfiqur made his intent clear by sending two short deliveries from Ball for boundaries, which brought up the team's 200 in 38th over, as the bowlers kept searching for wickets by keeping their line close to the batsmen’s bodies.

Tamim then worked one for a single to reach his ninth century off 124 deliveries. It was his fifth ODI century in 28 matches since the 2015 World Cup, while his previous four came in 140 matches.

The pair fashioned Bangladesh’s highest partnership outside Asia, going past Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah’s 141 against England in the 2015 showcase event. It is their fifth highest partnership.

But both batsmen fell in the same over to dent Bangladesh’s hopes of a total in excess of 320.

Tamim studded his innings with 12 boundaries and three sixes before getting a top-edge off Plunkett. Mushfiqur, who cracked eight boundaries, then holed out at deep midwicket.

Shakib (10) and Sabbir Rahman (24 off 15) fell after cracking five boundaries between them before Plunkett bowled a superb final over, conceding just five runs.

He was the pick of the English bowlers with 4-59 in 10 overs, while Ball and Stokes chipped in with a wicket each.

Brief scores:

Bangladesh: 305/6 in 50 over (Tamim 128, Soumya 28, Imrul 19, Mushfiqur 79, Shakib 10, Sabbir 24, Mahmudullah 6*, Mosaddek 2*; Woakes 0/4, Wood 0/58, Ball 1/82, Stokes 1/42, Plunkett 4/29, Moeen 0/40, Root 0/18).

England: 308/2 in 47.2 overs (Roy 1, Hales 95, Root 133*, Morgan 75*; Mashrafe 1/56, Shakib 0/62, Mustafizur 0/51, Soumya 0/13, Mosaddek 0/47, Rubel 0/64, Sabbir 1/13).

Result: England win by 8 wickets.

Man of the Match: Joe Root