Cricketers of the Week: 27th May to 3rd June
The Champions Trophy is underway and the week featured some enthralling cricket. England beat South Africa 2-1 in a three-match ODI series and then thumped Bangladesh in their first fixture in the Champions Trophy. They definitely look good to win the ICC trophy on home soil.
There were some wonderful performances from many players including in the washed-out New Zealand–Australia fixture that probably robbed the Kiwis of some points.
Here, we take a look at the top five performances of the week. Tamim Iqbal, Hashim Amla and Kane Williamson miss out, despite scoring high-class centuries and so do Miller and Quinton de Kock, who played valiant knocks in a losing cause. Amla even became the quickest to 25 ODI centuries.
#1 Joe Root (133* v Bangladesh)
At Kennington Oval, Bangladesh had posted an impressive 305 on a reasonably good batting deck in the first fixture of the Champions Trophy. That was courtesy of a solid top-order batting performance.
However, England made mince-meat of that hefty target despite losing Jason Roy cheaply. Much credit has to go to Joe Root who walked in at 6 for 1 in the third over and stayed unbeaten till the end.
Root added 159 for the second wicket with Alex Hales, who scored a blistering 86-ball 95, narrowly missing out on a century himself. He then added an unbeaten 143 with his skipper Eoin Morgan, who continued his good form with a 61-ball 75.
Root’s 133 came off 129 balls and he scarcely looked uncomfortable at any point during the tough chase. This was his tenth ODI century.