World Cup 2019, England vs South Africa: Best of Twitter Reactions

Ben Stokes

Cricket World Cup, the biggest tournament of the sport which takes place only once in four years started today in England. The hosts took on South Africa in the tournament opener. Faf du Plessis, the Proteas skipper won the toss and elected to field first.

Imran Tahir started the bowling for the Proteas, which reaped immediate rewards as Jonny Bairstow was dismissed for a golden duck in the very second ball of the innings. Despite the early setback, England played in an aggressive manner. Jason Roy and Joe Root were dismissed in consecutive overs shortly after they crossed their fifties.

Captain Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes then came together at the crease and made full use of home condition perfectly as they made sure the run rate never drops below 6. The skipper fell for 57 runs which came in 60 deliveries. Jos Buttler couldn’t do much as Lungi Ngidi sent him back for just 18 runs. England’s scoring was dented heavily as the South African bowlers' kept chipping at their batting lineup with wickets at regular intervals. Ben Stokes played an amazing innings of 89 runs off 79 balls with 9 fours. At the end of their 50 overs, England posted 311-8 on the board with Ngidi being the pick among the bowlers with 3 wickets.

Chasing 312, South African opener Hashim Amla walked off after being hit by a bouncer off the bowling of Jofra Archer. Aiden Markram failed with the bat as he scored just 11 runs. The skipper couldn’t score much as he fell prey for Archer’s short ball. Van der Dussen and Quinton de Kock joined hands and tried to rescue the sinking ship. Van der Dussen fell just after reaching his fifty. His wicket opened the floodgates for England bowlers as JP Duminy and Dwaine Pretorius were dismissed for paltry scores.

De Kock tried his level best but fell after a well-made 68 runs off 74 balls which included 6 boundaries and 2 sixes. Ben Stokes took arguably one of the best catches in World Cup history to dismiss Andile Phehlukwayo. Though Amla returned to the crease to resume the innings, he fell for just 13 runs. Stokes took the final two wickets to wrap South African innings for just 207 runs thus securing a victory by 104 runs. Ben Stokes had a memorable day on the field with the bat and ball as he scored 89 runs, picked 2 wickets and plucked out an excellent catch.

Here are the best tweets from the game: