Stokes century propels England to 309 for 8

Ben Stokes produced his maiden ODI century, a hugely mature performance in sapping conditions, as he and the debutant Ben Duckett overcame a dicey start to the first ODI against Bangladesh at Dhaka to set the stage for another flying finish from England's stand-in captain, Jos Buttler.

Faced with opponents who have not lost a series on home soil for two years, and in front of a typically fervent crowd who made light of a one-kilometre exclusion zone to pack the stands at Mirpur, England showed tenacity and talent in equal measure to withstand and ultimately thrive against the hustle and bustle of Bangladesh's spin-dominant attack. By the time Chris Woakes was run out for 16 off the final ball of the innings, England had racked up an imposing total of 309 for 8 in their fifty overs.

Stokes' contribution to that effort was 101 from exactly 100 balls - a performance that might pale statistically compared to some of the masterful feats of run-making in England's ranks in recent months, but which was compiled in some of the most sappingly humid conditions imaginable. The onus throughout was to put pace back on to the ball, a draining requirement on a sticky track, and with eight fours and four sixes, he fulfilled his brief almost to a standstill - after bringing up his hundred with a flick through midwicket off Shafiul Islam, he survived just one more delivery before hoisting a tired pull to deep midwicket to depart with cheeks puffed and shirt sodden.

He had done his job, however, and so too had Duckett, whose 60 from 78 balls made him the first England batsman since Michael Lumb in 2014 to post a 50-plus score on his ODI debut. With eight overs remaining, the stage was set for Buttler to do what he does best - but it was a tribute to the efforts of his team-mates higher up the order that he was initially forced to rein in his aggression.

Moeen Ali came and went cheaply, caught at long leg for 6 off a Mashrafe Mortaza bouncer, and it wasn't until the back end of the 47th over that Buttler flicked on the Beast Mode. After 25 runs, including a solitary boundary, from his first 26 deliveries, he signalled his change of tempo with consecutive sixes off Shakib Al Hasan over wide long-on, before two more fours and an inside-out six over extra cover off Shafiul Islam completed a startling 33-ball fifty, which became 63 from 38 balls all told.

But in spite of that eye-catching cameo, the plaudits still belonged to Stokes and Duckett. The pair had come together at 63 for 3 in the 13th over, at something of a crunch moment, with the run-out of Jonny Bairstow for a third-ball duck completing a collapse of 3 for 21 in 31 balls. James Vince, who once again looked fluent in an England shirt without entirely convincing, had holed out to mid-on for 16 to end an opening stand of 41, before Jason Roy undid a composed 41 from 40 balls with a misplaced show of aggression against the canny spin of Shakib Al Hasan.

Bangladesh used seven bowlers in all, with the third seamer, Taskin Ahmed, held back until the second half of the innings as Mashrafe leaned heavily and predictably on his quartet of slow men. Aside from their drip-drip accuracy, the speed with which they burned through their overs was especially telling. There was little opportunity to think between deliveries, but Stokes was in the mood to trust his instinct, particularly on the reverse sweep, with which he picked off four of his eight fours - the most startling of which more of a full-blooded pull as he stayed high in his stance to flat-bat the pace of Mortaza through backward point.

Duckett, meanwhile, was quite content to play the anchorman. After his eye-popping scoring feats for Northamptonshire and the Lions this summer, this was all about bedding into the international arena, and he passed his first test with aplomb. His five fours were timely pressure releases, including one cute scoop over the wicketkeeper's head off a Taskin short ball, but after reaching his half-century from 63 balls, his battery visibly went flat in the final minutes of his stay. He managed one run from his last nine deliveries before missing a leg-stump full-toss to be bowled round his pads.

By the end of their fielding stint, however, Bangladesh were visibly tetchy after letting several crucial chances slip through their fingers. By far the most costly of these were the two lives in the space of five balls to Stokes, on 69 and 71 respectively - a low drill to mid-on and an ugly skew to deep cover. Duckett was also reprieved on 59 at backward square leg as he nailed a sweep off Mosaddek Hossain, and when no one called for Woakes' skied hoick to midwicket in the penultimate over, it seemed that England's refusal to buckle had finally cracked the hosts' resolve.