The visitors won with 127 balls in hand to end England’s run of eight successive one-day wins, but the series belonged to Morgan’s side for their wins at Headingley and Southampton. That is what you get picked for.
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Or was it? This is, after all, England at a major tournament.
England, set 306 for victory, reached the target with 16 balls to spare, losing just two wickets. In that sense, it was ideal.
Woakes, a key member of England’s one-day global side, managed just two overs with the new ball against the Tigers before going off with a left side strain and played no further part in a match where the allrounder was not required to bat.
“He’s going to have a scan tonight and we should have the results either late tonight or early tomorrow morning”. Instead, it was the start of a tournament with significant ramifications for two sides that have been among the most confident and successful in the two years since the World Cup.
“But I thought our bowlers did really well managing his strike rate and then taking two wickets on the bounce”.
Roy looks short of confidence, and is the obvious weakness in an otherwise powerful-looking batting lineup that makes the English one of the tournament favourites.
“You have to work on your skills in case someone goes down and you need to bowl at the death”. England will have to be very careful and give some serious consideration to ruling him out.
Despite the win, skipper Morgan expressed concerned about Woakes’ injury. His struggles were brought into sharper focus by Hales and Joe Root combining after Roy’s departure for a second-wicket stand of 159 to help England to an eight-wicket win in Group A.
Stokes bowled on the outfield during England’s training session at The Oval on Wednesday and Morgan said: “We will see how he pulls up tomorrow (Thursday) to see how much he will bowl”. Soumya fell to Ben Stokes for a breezy 34.
Instead Alex Hales, Jos Buttler and Adil Rashid – promoted to No 7 in a weakened England line-up – were brainless, aiming loose expansive drives before they had a chance to settle in demanding conditions.
It left them one bowler short on a flat pitch that offered very little for bowlers after the first 10 overs of the game. “We (still) believe in him”.
England are next in action against New Zealand on Tuesday in Cardiff. Tamim surpassed Shahriar Nafees who scored 123 and remained not out in the 2006 edition of the Champions Trophy against Zimbabwe on October 13.
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Before this game, Roy was heavily backed by Morgan after a poor sequence where he had not passed 20 in his previous six ODI innings.
