Triumph marred by injury to key man Woakes
ENGLAND got their Champions Trophy campaign off to a winning start against Bangladesh but victory came at a cost after Chris Woakes sustained a side strain that looks certain to rule him out of the remainder of the tournament.
Joe Root’s 10th ODI century and 95 from Alex Hales helped Eoin Morgan’s men chase down 306 with eight wickets and 16 balls to spare at the Oval.
Yet Woakes, who had missed the final two matches of the recent series against South Africa with a thigh injury, was forced from the field with a different injury after bowling just two overs.
The absence of perhaps their best limited-overs bowler is a huge blow for England.
Woakes has not yet been officially ruled out of the tournament but given side strains usually take at least six weeks to recover from, the
Warwickshire player must also be a doubt for the first Test of the summer against South Africa at Lord’s on July 6.
England will be allowed to call up an injury replacement ahead of their next match against New Zealand in Cardiff on Tuesday.
That is likely to see Toby Roland-Jones, the Middlesex seamer who had an impressive international debut against South Africa at Lord’s last Monday, added to the squad ahead of Steven Finn and Surrey’s Tom Curran.
Morgan said: “Chris is the biggest concern – he’s going to go for a scan on his side so we’ll have to see what that comes up with. At the moment it doesn’t feel right – he went straight off the field and didn’t come back on.”
Root also struggled through a calf problem he sustained running between the wickets.
“Joe was able to bat through his niggle but we’ll assess everything in the morning,” said Morgan.
Root added: “We are a side that is definitely getting better at chasing 300; there is a lot of confidence in that dressing room.We all back each other’s ability and that just rubs off on everyone.”
Jason Roy suffered a day to forget after his poor run of form continued when he was dismissed for just one by Mashrafe Mortaza in the third over of England’s chase.
Despite a run of four single-figure scores in his five innings before this, Roy had been guaranteed his place for the tournament by Morgan on the eve of this match.
The captain had said: “The decision remains the same throughout the tournament. Jason Roy is part of our strong opening partnership with Alex Hales. He’ll definitely play.”