England’s Joe Root celebrates after the Three Lions won their opening fixture of the ICC World Cup 2019. (Reuters)England made a confident start to their World Cup campaign after crushing South Africa by 104 runs in the tournament opener at The Oval on Thursday. Ben Stokes’s was the star of the show with an all-round show as he top-scored with 89 as the Three Lions roared to 311/8 after batting first. Jofra Archer took two early wickets and South Africa never looked likely to reach their target. The Proteas were ultimately bowled out in the 40th over for 207. Here are the best reactions from the match-
England beat South Africa by 104 runs!
The hosts excel in all the three departments as they begin their #CWC19 campaign with a win. #ENGvSA SCORECARD 👇https://t.co/Eoxcvm1kP4 pic.twitter.com/4SIV7w2yZ0
— ICC (@ICC) 30 May 2019
Clinical. This is not just a win…but a statement of sorts. England start their #CWC19 campaign in style. Such a huge (104-run) win might play an important role towards the end…NRR. #EngvSA
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) 30 May 2019
Wow… what about that Ben Stokes … what a catch !!! You can’t practise those #CWC19 #ENGvsRSA One of the best you will ever see
— Russel Arnold (@RusselArnold69) 30 May 2019
Afraid South Africa never really recovered from Jofra Archer’s opening spell. My man of the match. Powerful performance from England.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) 30 May 2019
Super performer of the game @benstokes38. Congratulations, on the big win today, thankfully they roped in @JofraArcher in the final squad because the young man showed what he possesses,
superb start for the hosts!#ENGvSA #CWC19— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) 30 May 2019
Two stats that encapsulated England’s innings today: Root only defended one of his first 20 balls (intent that transferred pressure back on SA) & Stokes only attacked 8 of his first 30 balls (solidity that protected England against a collapse). Intelligent batting. #CWC19
— Freddie Wilde (@fwildecricket) 30 May 2019
Congratulations @ECB_cricket for winning the opening game of the World Cup 🏟 2019 vs @OfficialCSA.. how good was @benstokes38 batting and that catch 👌well done @ImranTahirSA my brother you bowled well 🤗🏆🏏 @ICC
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) 30 May 2019
Truth be told we have only one batsman who averages over 50 in wcups and champs trophy. That stat says something about our batting in tournament cricket🤷♂️
— Herschelle Gibbs (@hershybru) 30 May 2019
Speaking after the match, England captain Eoin Morgan expressed happiness and said, “Delighted to be off and running in this tournament. It’s more satisfying than normal. We were very good today, the wicket didn’t allow us to execute our plan which is to try and score quite a considerable total, but I thought the maturity and smart cricket we played shows the effort we put in the last two years and the experience as well. Extremely impressed.””
