Tamim century lifts Bangladesh to 305-6 against England
By Ed Osmond
LONDON (Reuters) - Tamim Iqbal struck a fluent century to lead Bangladesh to a decent total of 305 for six against England in the opening game of the Champions Trophy at The Oval on Thursday.
Tamim made 128 and shared a third-wicket partnership of 166 with Mushfiqur Rahim which laid the platform to give Bangladesh the chance to spring a major shock against the hosts.
England lost all-rounder Chris Woakes to a side injury after he had bowled two overs and they looked lethargic in the field at the start of their bid to win a global 50-over tournament for the first time.
The pockets of flag-waving Bangladesh fans in the ground cheered every run wildly, although their team made a cautious start.
Tamim and Soumya Sarkar added 56 for the first wicket before the latter was caught on the cover point boundary by substitute fielder Jonny Bairstow off Ben Stokes for 28.
Imrul Kayes, on 19, was brilliantly caught by a diving Mark Wood at mid on but that brought Mushfiqur to the crease and he and Tamim gradually accelerated the scoring rate with crisp strokes all around the ground.
Stokes and Tamim were involved in a verbal altercation as tempers frayed in the sunshine but the left-hander reached his century off 124 balls, including two sixes and 11 fours.
Tamim skied Liam Plunkett to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler and Mushfiqur was caught in the deep for 79 off the next ball.
England stemmed the boundary flow in the closing overs but the hosts will need to bat well to make a winning start in the competition.
Australia and New Zealand are the other teams in Group A with the top two advancing to the semi-finals.
(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)