As the Oval crowd purred in the late afternoon glare, letting out the odd gurgle of pleasure as Joe Root and Eoin Morgan glided their way to a decisive third-wicket partnership there was, beneath the easy progress, a slight sense of relief about England’s opening victory in Champions Trophy Group A.
Root was the star, reeling off a high-grade career best 133 as England chased down 305 to win by eight wickets with 16 balls to spare. It was a patient match-winning innings from England’s star batsman, his 10th in ODIs and a nicely assertive start to this rapid-fire tournament. Root hit just six fours in reaching his hundred, sizing up both the pitch and Bangladesh’s attack and turning a moderately tricky chase into a procession.
In other ways it was less than plain sailing. England will have to make at least one change for the game against New Zealand on Tuesday, Chris Woakes having suffered a side-strain, an injury that may well rule him out of the tournament. There is a case for making more given the vicissitudes of form and a sameiness to the attack in the absence of Adil Rashid, England’s leading wicket taker of the last two years dropped here and replaced by the more meat-and-potatoes Jake Ball.
By contrast Jason Roy had been offered the unconditional faith of his captain in the buildup, another example of the officer class privilege extended to batsmen. In the event Roy was out cheaply and has now racked up five bullish, adrenal single figure scores in a row in all cricket.
Backing him makes sense. Roy is a streaky hitter who might just flick the on-switch at any moment. But here his carte blanche was another slight off note on a mildly bumpy day for England’s management team, compounded by the sight of Root limping around with a twisted ankle sustained setting off for a run. International cricketers tend to turn out held together with chewing gum and elastic bands these days. But England are taking a few hits.
Earlier Morgan had won the toss at a sunlit Oval still draped in smoke from a sensibly restrained opening ceremony pegged out around some rather grudging fireworks. The more bullish choice might have been to bat first, rack up 400 and send a ripple of alpha male aggression around the tournament. England attacked with the ball instead, Woakes opening up with a maiden before walking off at the end of his second over. His injury will now be assessed. Likely replacements include Toby Roland-Jones and Tom Curran.
Soumya Sarkar was dropped early on by Moeen Ali, and steadily Tamim Iqbal began to find the middle, reeling off one dreamy drive down the ground off Mark Wood. The second powerplay was greeted with a wonderful lofted six off Ball from Sarkar in an over that went for 16 to leave Bangladesh 52 for nought off 11.
Enter Ben Stokes, who kicked off with a wide and then dredged up the opening breakthrough, a short ball lobbed in the air by Sarkar out to deep cover. At the other end Tamim was zinging those whip-crack wrists at anything pitched up, as Stokes was drawn into some ill-advised pantomime, glaring at Tamim from the end of his follow-through and being shooed away disdainfully. A wonderful dive and grab from Wood at mid-on saw the back of Imrul Kayes. But the 200 came up in the 38th over, with eight wickets in hand and power to add.
A fine hundred from Tamim was greeted by a huge rolling cheer from the heavily Bangladeshi crowd, but as wickets fell to heaves into the deep the innings closed on a decelerating 305. Plunkett was the pick of the bowlers, offering hostility and variation. Moeen Ali also bowled tightly against a top order that tried to get after him.
England began gingerly in reply, Hales swiping Shakib Al Hasan’s left arm spin just over cover before Roy paddled a horrible sweep to short fine leg. Roy’s last five scores have been a rapid-fire 1, 1, 8, 4 and 1. Defensive batsmen are often described as lacking another gear. This process works the other way too.
Root got off the mark with a stroke of wonderful grace, leaning forward to yawn Shakib away through the covers and manoeuvred the ball with real craft to bring up his half century. Hales was fluent from the start, if troubled once or twice by Mustafizur Rahman, Bangladesh’s rising star of the spring-loaded wrists.
England’s 150 came up in the 27th over and for a while Hales simply stood there and hit, lofting Shakib for one vast straight six, before succumbing in painful circumstances. Having heaved Sabbir Rahman for six to get to 95, Hales couldn’t resist the charge and swiped a slow long hop to deep midwicket. It was a fine, clean-hitting innings, confirmation of Hales’s ability to walk through this kind of skiddy attack on a true pitch.
Morgan was reprieved on 23, Tamim plunging forward to claim a wonderful catch that TV replays suggested may have been grassed, to Tamim’s obvious fury. England’s captain breezed on to a belligerent half century and victory was serene enough in the end.
England’s bravura batting lineup was largely untested here. Injury to Woakes and that slight sense of toothlessness in the middle overs suggest the bowling might require a tweak or two ahead of a more testing meeting with the power-hitters of New Zealand in Cardiff.
