Stokes's maiden ton propels England to 309

A shoddy fielding display from Bangladesh and a fantastic though fortuitous maiden century from England all-rounder Ben Stokes took the tourists to a formidable 309 for eight in the first ODI at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. 

Stokes and debutant Ben Duckett put on a 153-run stand for the fourth wicket which took England from a position of vulnerability to one of strength.  

Stokes, who hit eight boundaries and four sixes, benefitted from two lives in successive overs. In the 31 st over bowled by Taskin Ahmed, he hit a powerful cross-batted swipe straight to Mahmudullah Riyad at mid on when on 69 but the fielder spilled it as his elbow hit the ground after un an unnecessary dive. In the next over Mosharraf Hossain spilled a skier at sweeper cover off Mashrafe. 

Mosharraf was again the culprit in the 35th over, but the beneficiary this time was Duckett, whose mishit sweep off Mosaddek Hossain was spilled at square leg with the batsman on 58. 

The partnership finally came to an end in the last ball of the 39th over, when Shafiul reacted in smartly to Duckett's shuffle to the off side and fired in a full toss on leg stump to bowl him. 

Stokes scored his century with a single through midwicket in the 41st over, before holing out to deep midwicket in the next over bowled by Mashrafe to leave the score on 230 for five.  

Skipper Jos Buttler by then had joined the party and ended up with a fantastic 38-ball 63 studded with three fours and four sixes as England scored 89 for four in the last 10 overs, including 60 for two in the last five.

Earlier, Considering it is a good batting surface that offers just a hint of turn, Bangladesh started well with their skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and Shafiul Islam not allowing the in-form opening pair of James Vince and Jason Roy to get off to a flyer. They did hit the odd boundary, including two by Roy in Mashrafe's second over, but the opening bowlers also did manage to string together a few dots.     

Shakib Al Hasan was brought on in the seventh over, but that produced nine runs, perhaps leading England to believe that this was the cue to take off. Vince went through with a down-the-wicket slog in Shafiul's fourth over, the eighth of the innings, but could only scoop it to mid on where Mashrafe completed a simple catch. 

Roy, batting on 41 came down the track to Shakib in the 12th over, but got more height than distance in his lofted hit and Sabbir Rahman, after seemingly waiting for an eternity for the steep chance to come back to earth, took a well-judged catch on the long off fence. 

Although Bangladesh's fielding was patchy throughout, there were a few moments of brilliance, particularly from Sabbir. A direct hit in the 10th over as Roy scurried through for a single did not bear fruit, but soon after another accounted for Jonny Bairstow in the 12th over and just grazed it, with replays showing that the bail popped out of the groove in time for Bairstow to be sent on his way. 

At 63 for three England were in danger of finishing on a sub-par score, but that is when the Stokes-Duckett show started.