Chasing a low score, England attained victory in 33.1 overs as Root remained unbeaten on 100, which came off 94 balls. In his 16th ODI hundred, Root found the boundary rope 11 times. The West Indies bowlers struggled hard to bowl the right lengths and were looking for wickets, but only found a pair as England chased their total with ease.
Put into bat, 'unfortunate' West Indies faced early blows when they lost Universe boss Chris Gayle (36) and hard-hitter Andre Russell (21), right at a time when the situation demanded them to remain at the crease the most. However, despite being limited to 212, Windies batsmen were full of their usual Caribbean flair with 14 boundaries and six sixes.
The foundations of England's victory were laid by speedsters Jofra Archer (3/30), Mark Wood (3/18), Chris Woakes (1/16), while Root chipped in with his scintillating ton. Nicholas Pooran chose the biggest stage to strike his maiden ODI fifty but West Indies' big guns failed to fire.
Taking account of the situation, young Pooran (63) and Shimron Hetmyer (39), batted maturely to add 89 runs for the fourth wicket.
The ball was hurrying on to the batsmen and whether it was a Shai Hope (11) or big-hitting Gayle, the Caribbeans found the going tough as timing the ball was a challenge. They had already lost Evin Lewis (0), bowled by Woakes off a yorker.
Hope's torturous stay was ended by Wood when he had him trapped after reviewing the umpire's not out decision. Pooran and Hetmyer then chose restrain over flamboyance, steading the innings.
The duo did all the hard work, working the ball around to keep the scoreboard going in their partnership, which got broken when Joe Root had Hetmyer caught off his own bowling.
The part-time off-spinner struck in his next over too, dismissing the rival captain Jason Holder (9) in similar fashion.
In came Russell and the ball was soon flying into the stands. He twice dispatched leg-spinner Adil Rashid into the crowd after being dropped but was dismissed, attempting another big shot off Wood.