Ben Stokes, England vs South Africa, ICC World Cup 2019
Photo Credit: Getty Images.

In the ICC World Cup opener, South Africa has restricted England at 311 for eight in 50 allotted overs. The see-saw battle between the Three Lions’ batsmen and Proteas’ bowlers have added much to the contest at the Kennington Oval in London. Meanwhile, Ben Stokes, who announced that he has returned to form while scoring crucial 89 off 79 deliveries.

But Stokes got dismissed in the final over when Hashim Amla claimed a simple catch on the bowling of Lungi Ngidi. Stokes struck nine fours during his innings.

Liam Plunkett 9 (6) and Jofra Archer 7 (3) remained not out.

Earlier, Proteas skipper won the toss and decided to bowl first in a bid to make most of the first hour of play.

Well, his decision proved to be right when he asked Imran Tahir to deliver the very first over. Tahir got rid of Jonny Bairstow on the very second ball of the match when an outside edge settled well into the gloves of Quinton de Kock.

After Bairstow returns to the pavilion on a duck, Joe Root walked in to stitch a crucial 106-run partnership with Jason Roy. The duo has played a high-quality cricket before settling with a fifty each.

Meanwhile, the duo returned to the hut when Roy was dismissed by Andile Phehlukwayo when du Plessis completed a good catch. On the other side, Jean-Paul Duminy got a regulation catch of Root at the point region on the bowling of Kagiso Rabada.

Earlier, Eoin Morgan has played exciting innings which further saw him recording 106-run partnership for the fourth-wicket alongside Stokes. Morgan has managed to score 60-ball 57.

After Morgan’s dismissal on the bowling of Tahir, Jos Buttler couldn’t do much. The Proteas bowlers have tied him up, which eventually resulted in his wicket. Buttler faced 16 for his 18 before Aiden Markram completed a brilliant low catch in the deep.

Moeen Ali, who couldn’t do much damage, faced nine balls for his three. Lungi Ngidi accounted for Ali’s wicket when du Plessis pouched a tough catch while making it look easy.

In between, Woakes, who tried to accelerate the innings returned to the pavilion after scoring 13 off 14 balls.

For the Proteas, Proteas’ pick of the bowlers was Ngidi.

Moreover, he snared three scalps after conceding 66 runs in his quota of 10 overs.

Well, Tahir, Rabada managed to back two wickets apiece. Also, Phehlukwayo has settled with a solitary wicket of Roy.

ICC World Cup – Here’s how Twitter reacted for England vs South Africa game:

https://twitter.com/cricketaklysm/status/1134084069845741570

https://twitter.com/glippy25/status/1134084050610769920

https://twitter.com/Deceiver151/status/1134037273568317441

 

https://twitter.com/Jason_Keen/status/1134085076994711553

https://twitter.com/Siphokuhle_/status/1134083078173929472

https://twitter.com/Pholoho/status/1134079878092005376

https://twitter.com/GedRobinson/status/1134082772983848961

Tahir Ibn Manzoor

Tahir Ibn Manzoor, who tweets @TahirIbnManzoor (https://twitter.com/TahirIbnManzoor) - works as an editor for Sportzwiki.com. He has a great affection for longform feature writing. He completed his masters...