England cruised to their third win at the Cricket World Cup on Friday, thumping the West Indies by eight wickets at the Hampshire Bowl.

The Three Lions certainly made hay in the beautiful Hampshire sunshine on a day when Joe Root fired on all cylinders with both bat and ball.

The England test captain proved his incredible versatility with an imperious century - his second of the tournament - at the top of the chase while also claiming two immensely valuable wickets.

West Indies Innings

The Windies famously explosive opening pair struggled to get out of the blocks with Joffra Archer and Mark Wood suppressing both Chris Gayle and Evan Lewis well.

Chris Woakes made the initial breakthrough, castling Lewis in the third over before Liam Plunkett claimed the massive wicket of Gayle just as the opener was threatening to explode.

Nicolas Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer began the rebuild, putting on 89 for the fourth wicket before Joe Root stepped up to become England's unlikely bowling hero.

Root got rid of Hetmyer caught and bowled for 39 before Windies captain Jason Holder suffered a similar fate to leave the islanders teetering.

England continued to claim wickets at regular intervals before Wood and Archer returned to polish off the tale restricting Holder's stuttering side to just to 212 all out.

Pooran's fighting 63 proved to be the only positive in the innings for the Windies, who were dismissed with over five overs to spare.

England Innings

Roy was unable to take up his normal spot at the top of the innings as a result of the injury he picked up while fielding, leaving Root to deputise in his place.

Having done more than was expected of him with the ball, Root was brilliant with bat in hand too.

Along with Johnny Bairstow, he got the Three Lions off to a rocking start, playing some sumptuous drives through the covers and down the ground.

A West Indies attack that had looked so sharp in previous games had no answer for Root, who made the business of batting look frightfully simple, even after losing his partner Bairstow.

Chris Woakes' promotion to number 3 came as a surprise but the all-rounder proved his worth, providing ample support for the cruising Root.

Root waltzed to a gorgeous century as England flexed their muscle and showed their incredible strength in depth.

Woakes fell late in the piece with Ben Stokes coming in to pick off the rest of runs.

Attention will now turn to upcoming clashes with Afghanistan and Sri Lanka as The Three Lions sweat over the fitness of Roy and Morgan.

With Root in this kind of form though, they might not need them.