Root ton sees England to win in opener

London: Joe Root compiled an unbeaten century as England opened their Champions Trophy campaign with victory over Bangladesh at The Oval on Thursday.

Root made 133 not out and Alex Hales 95 as England, the bookmakers' favourites for the tournament, reached their target of 306 with 16 balls to spare.

Tamim Iqbal hit 128 in Bangladesh's 305-5, with Liam Plunkett taking 4-59.

But England suffered injury concerns as Chris Woakes sustained a side problem and Root appeared to roll his ankle.

Ben Stokes, who required a pre-match fitness test on a knee injury, did manage to bowl seven overs.

However, Woakes only sent down two before leaving the field, while Root hobbled through much of the second part of his innings.

England will probably secure a place in the semi-finals if they beat New Zealand in Cardiff on Tuesday, while Bangladesh almost certainly have to beat Australia on Monday to avoid being eliminated.

England are strongly fancied to win their first global 50-over trophy largely because of the strength of their batting, which again impressed on a superb surface.

But their bowling, arguably a weakness, showed room for improvement for sterner tests to come. Pace bowler Jake Ball, preferred to the leg spin of Adil Rashid, went at more than eight an over.

Opener Jason Roy, with a highest score of 20 in his six previous one-day internationals, made only one from eight balls before scooping pace bowler Mashrafe Mortaza to short fine leg.

Still, injuries are starting to look like the biggest problem. After doubts over Stokes, the loss of either Root or Woakes, England's highest ranked ODI batsman and bowler respectively, would be a huge blow.

Earlier, Bangladesh took advantage of being invited to bat, led by the sparkling Tamim and cheered on by an energetic crowd.

Tamim was on 19 when he could have fallen to a vicious Mark Wood bouncer but, after that, he despatched anything short and played drives down the ground.

He shared a stand of 166 with Mushfiqur Rahim (79) to move Bangladesh to a dangerous 259-2 with six overs remaining.

But Tamim skied to Jos Buttler and Mushfiqur holed to long on from successive Plunkett deliveries to halt the Tigers' momentum.

Bangladesh posted their highest ODI total against England, but it was still about 30 runs short of really testing the powerful home batting.

Brief scores
Bangladesh - 305 for 6 (Tamim 128, Rahim 79, Plunkett 4-59)
England - 308 for 2 (Root 133*, Hales 95, Morgan 75*)
Result - England won by 8 wickets