Opener Jason Roy smashed his way to a sensational 153 as England scripted a dominating performance to hammer Bangladesh by 106 runs in a high-scoring World Cup match here Saturday.
Sent into bat, England posted a massive 386 for six and thenreturned to dismiss Bangladesh for 280 in 48.5 overs, despite a superb hundredby all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan (121).
England thus registered their second win of the showpieceevent, following the 14-run loss to Pakistan in the second match. They had beatenSouth Africa by 104 runs in the World Cup opener.
Roy, who blasted five sixes and had 14 hits to the fence inhis 121-ball innings, laid the foundation of the big score with two crucialpartnerships — 128 with opener Jonny Bairstow (51) and 77 with first-down JoeRoot (21).
Jos Buttler then scored a 44-ball 64 laced with four sixesand two fours and added 95 runs with skipper Eoin Morgan (35) as England postedthe first 350 plus total of the tournament.
It was also England’s best World Cup total, surpassing the338 for 8 against India in the 2011 edition.
Chasing an improbable 387 to win, Shakib added 106 runs withMushfiqur Rahim (44) after Bangladesh were reduced to 63 for two in 12 overs.
Shakib took Bangladesh across the 200-mark in 37th over butthe Tigers never really looked in the chase and once he departed in the 40thover, it was a mere formality thereafter for the hosts.
The victory will help to exorcise the ghost of 2015 WorldCup when England were knockout out by Bangladesh after beating them by 15 runs.
Earlier, England were off to a flying start as Roy andBairstow scored 67 in the first powerplay and then brought up the hundred in 15overs.
A superb catch by Mehidy Hasan at short cover finally endedBairstow’s innings as Bangladesh produced a much-needed breakthrough in the20th over bowled by skipper Mashrafe Mortaza.
Roy continued in the same vein and completed his century inthe 27th over with a pull shot which crossed the boundary line after amisfield. However, the opener, anticipating it to be a single, ended upknocking umpire Joel Wilson to the ground while running to the non-striker.Both were unhurt.
Roy and Root then continued to dominate the proceedings asthe hosts crossed 200 runs in 30.4 overs.
However, England lost their second wicket when Root playedon in the 32nd over. In the 35th over, Roy plundered three successive sixes offMehidy Hasan to complete his 150 in 120 balls but he was holed out by Mortazaat extra cover in the next ball.
Buttler and Morgan then carried the onus with the formerblasting two sixes and a four off Mosaddek Hossain. The pair took Englandacross the 300-mark in 43rd over.
However, the duo perished in the 46th and 47th overrespectively, while Ben Stokes (6) too was out cheaply.Liam Plunkett (27) and Chris Woakes (18) thenprovided some lusty blows, sharing 45 off just 17 balls to take England closeto the 400-mark.