Joe Root became the first player to hit a century in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 on Monday. The England top-order batsman reached the landmark with a single during their chase against Pakistan at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.
Root, 28, took a single off the second ball of the 38th over, bowled by Wahab Riaz. The classy right-handed batsman reached the landmark in the 97th ball. Earlier, he was dropped by Babar Azam off the bowling of Mohammad Amir when at 10.
It happened in the middle of a brilliant partnership with Jos Buttler. But Root departed soon after reaching his 15th ODI ton in 134 matches. He made 107 off 104 balls, with the help of 10 fours and a six. He added 130 runs with Buttler.
Earlier, Mohammad Hafeez missed out on becoming the first century-maker of the World Cup but a vastly improved batting display from Pakistan saw them make 348 for eight.
Hafeez made the most of a reprieve when Jason Roy floored a routine chance at mid-off following a skied drive off Adil Rashid, with the batsman on 14. He went on to score 84 off 62 balls.
With Babar Azam (63) and Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed (55) also making fifties, this was a major turnaround from a Pakistan side who collapsed to 105 all out in a seven-wicket defeat by the West Indies in their World Cup opener at the same ground on Friday.
Pakistan were undone by a barrage of bouncers against the West Indies and England, unsurprisingly, deployed similar tactics after captain Eoin Morgan won the toss, with their attack featuring recalled fast bowler Mark Wood.
But Pakistan coped well on a ground where England had twice set a world record for the highest one-day international total -- 444 for three against Pakistan in 2016 and last year's 481 for six against Australia.
Yet having failed to defend a score of 340 against England -- the world's top-ranked ODI side -- at Trent Bridge last month, the worry for Pakistan was that they may not have put enough runs on the board.
For all the talk about England's quicks, it was off-spinner Moeen Ali who took the first three wickets Monday on his way to figures of three for 50.
By contrast, fast bowler Jofra Archer's 10 wicketless overs cost 79 runs while Woakes, who equalled the record of four catches by an outfielder in a World Cup innings, took an expensive three for 71 in eight overs.
(With Agency inputs)
