Jonathan Agnew column: England will be concerned over Champions Trophy injuries

The eight-wicket win against Bangladesh on Thursday was an excellent way for England to begin the Champions Trophy.

To chase 306 against any side, even in the ideal batting conditions of The Oval, is a challenge. You have to work hard to get those runs.

In the context of the tournament, that sort of game is much more beneficial to England than if they rolled Bangladesh for 120 then chased them down in 20 overs.

Joe Root made a wonderful century, Alex Hales was in the runs, Eoin Morgan continued his good form and Liam Plunkett was amongst the wickets. In that sense, it was perfect.

However, it was marred by the injury to Chris Woakes, who bowled only two overs before having to leave the field with an injury to his left side.

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The Warwickshire man had a scan on Thursday evening, with the results probably known to us by Friday morning. If it turns out to be a side strain, it could be serious.

As an old fast bowler, I can tell you that having a proper side strain is like having a red hot poker jammed between your ribs. If Woakes has one of those, he won't play again in the tournament.

In fairness, that did not look to be the case with Woakes. It seemed that he felt something and knew he had to stop - which was the right thing to do.

But side injuries are tricky. It's not just a case of strapping them up and saying "on you go". England will have to be very careful and give some serious consideration to ruling him out.

It's very anxious for Morgan's men, because Woakes is their highest-placed bowler in the International Cricket Council's one-day international rankings.

For a time, it also looked like Root's fitness could be a concern. It seemed like he rolled his ankle while batting and spent most of the second half of his innings hobbling around.

However, after the match he said he thought it was cramp in his calf, so that is much less of a worry.

All of this slightly shifted the focus away from Ben Stokes, whose knee problem dominated the pre-match build-up.

As promised, Stokes turned up early for a fitness test and was deemed healthy enough to play his part with the ball.

Still, even with Woakes off the field, Stokes only bowled seven overs. That tells us that England are still protecting him. That is sensible and he will benefit from more rest before the game against New Zealand on Tuesday.

On top of the injury concerns, England will be hoping that Jason Roy gets a score at the top of the order sooner rather than later.

Before this game, Roy was heavily backed by Morgan after a poor sequence where he had not passed 20 in his previous six ODI innings.

Here, he made only one from eight deliveries, but again received the support of his captain.

Now, it is quite right for Morgan to back his man, but I was surprised by the shot Roy played - a scoop off the pace bowler Mashrafe Mortaza to be caught at short fine leg.

Any batsman can edge a good ball, or even have a rush of blood and try to whack one, but those split-second decisions are made in the heat of the moment.

In this case, Roy made the choice to premeditate a stroke, probably as the bowler was walking back to his mark.

Instead of sticking to what he is good at, playing the ball down the ground, Roy simply did not give himself the chance of scoring runs on his home ground.

It just goes to show that poor form does not only mess with the way a batsman hits the ball, but also the decisions that are made.

England now move on to games against New Zealand and Australia, the two finalists from the 2015 World Cup, knowing that one win is likely to be enough for a place in the semi-finals.

Their confidence will be high, not least because they have got the hiccup of the final game against South Africa out of their system.

They could do without the injuries and the shot Roy played, but other than that they got the job done.