Cricket World Cup: England vs South Africa, The Oval - Stokes stars with bat and ball as England start campaign with win

Ben Stokes hit 89 with the bat, and took a stunning one-armed catch in a thrashing win at the beginning of the World Cup.

England - 311-8 / 207 - South Africa

Jofra Archer's bowling regularly exceeded 90mph, he took 3-27 in only his fourth one-day international match.

His pace and aggression meant he looked like taking a wicket with every ball.

But the play of the day surely has to go to Stokes, whose one-handed catch near the boundary is unlikely to be bettered for catch of the tournament.

Andile Phehlukwayo's sweep of Adil Rashid towards the mid-wicket boundary seemed too high for even Stokes to grab at first, but diving backwards with his right arm outstretched, he plucked it our of the air and clung on for the dismissal.

The crowd near that boundary had a great view of it - and Stokes showed a touch of class by taking the time to do some autographs during the batsman change.

Photo from scroll.in

In addition to Stokes' 89; Jason Roy, Joe Root and Eoin Morgan all hit half-centuries taking England to 311-8, a total that could have done with another 50 on.
Jonny Bairstow became the first opener to get a golden duck in the first innings of a World Cup tournament, off Imran Tahir's second ball who opened the bowling for South Africa
They steadied after that, with Roy and Root combining for 106, before both falling in the space of four balls, before Morgan and Stokes shared 106 also.
Stokes began calmly - his first 31 runs came from 36 balls - but he gradually upped his scoring.
Quinton de Kock opened with 68, and looked to have his side in good contention to chase down England at 129-2, before falling for the first of three wickets in 15 runs.
Stokes took two wickets in two balls at the end of play to dismiss South Africa with more than 10 overs remaining.

Photo from NZ Herald

If there were any doubters over Archer's credentials to be included in the squad, he certainly silenced them today.
Aiden Markram fended to slip and Faf du Plessis hooked to long leg.
De Kock added 85 with Rassie van der Dussen - with both surviving near misses.
Rashid looked to have bowled De Kock only for the bails not to come off, while Van der Dussen was dropped by wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.
Archer returned to remove Van der Dussen with another short ball and, though Amla came back before gloving Plunkett behind, Stokes took over.
First came the wonder catch, before the consecutive wickets of Kagiso Rabada and Imran Tahir completed an impressive England display.

SCORECARD
South Africa won the toss and decided to field
England won by 104 runs

England InningsBatsman: How Out - Bowler / Runs / Balls / SR (4s, 6s)
Roy: c du Plessis - b Phehlukwayo / 54 / 53 / 101.89  (8, 0)
Bairstow: c de Kock - b Tahir / 0 / 1 / 0.00 (0, 0)
Root: c Duminy - b Rabada / 51 / 59 / 86.44 (5, 0)
Morgan: c Markram - b Tahir / 57 / 60 / 95.00 (4, 3)
Stokes: c Amla - b Ngidi / 89 / 79 / 112.66 (9, 0)
Buttler: b Ngidi / 18 / 16 / 112.50 (0, 0)
Ali: c du Plessis - b Ngidi / 3 / 9 / 33.33 (0, 0)
Woakes: c du Plessis - b Rabada / 13 / 14 / 92.86 (1, 0)
Plunkett: not out / 9 / 6 / 150.00 (1, 0)
Archer: not out / 7 / 3 / 233.33 (1, 0)

Extras 0nb 8w 0b 2lb 10Total (50.0 overs) 311-8

Bowler: Overs / Maidens / Runs / Wickets / EconTahir: 10.0 / 0 / 61 / 2 / 6.10
Ngidi: 10.0 / 0 / 66 / 3 / 6.60
Rabada: 10.0 / 0 / 66 / 2 / 6.60
Pretorius: 7.0 / 0 / 42 / 0 / 6.00
Phehlukwayo: 8.0 / 0 / 44 / 1 / 5.50
Duminy: 2.0 / 0 / 14 / 0 / 7.00
Markram: 3.0 / 0 / 16 / 0 / 5.33

Fall of Wicket - Batsman1-1 (0.2 ovs) - Bairstow
107-2 (18.4 ovs) - Roy
111-3 (19.1 ovs) - Root
217-4 (36.5 ovs) - Morgan
247-5 (41.2 ovs) - Buttler
260-6 (43.6 ovs) - Ali
285-7 (47.3 ovs) - Woakes
300-8 (48.6 ovs) - Stokes

South Africa InningsBatsman: How Out - Bowler / Runs / Balls / SR (4s, 6s)
de Kock: c Root - b Plunkett / 68 / 74 / 91.89 (6, 2)
Amla: c Buttler - b Plunkett / 13 / 23 / 56.52 (1, 0)
Markram: c Root - b Archer / 11 / 12 / 91.67 (2, 0)
du Plessis: c Ali - b Archer / 5 / 7 / 71.43 (1 ,0)
van der Dussen: c Ali - b Archer / 50 / 61 / 81.97 (4, 1)
Duminy: c Stokes - b Ali / 8 / 11 / 72.73 (1, 0)
Pretorius: run out - (Stokes) / 1 / 1 / 100.00 (0, 0)
Phehlukwayo: c Stokes - b Rashid / 24 / 25 / 96.00 (4, 0)
Rabada: c Plunkett - b Stokes / 11 / 19 / 57.89 (2, 0)
Ngidi: not out / 6 / 5 / 120.00 (0, 1)
Tahir: c Root - b Stokes / 0 / 1 / 0.00 (0, 0)

Extras 0nb 1w 4b 5lb 10Total (39.5 overs) 207 all out

Bowler: Overs / Maidens / Runs / Wickets / EconWoakes: 5.0 / 0 / 24 / 0 / 4.80
Archer: 7.0 / 1 / 27 / 3 / 3.86
Rashid: 8.0 / 0 / 35 / 1 / 4.38
Ali: 10.0 / 0 / 63 / 1 / 6.30
Plunkett: 7.0 / 0 / 37 / 2 / 5.29
Stokes: 2.5 / 0 / 12 / 2 / 4.24

Fall of Wicket - Batsman36-1 (7.4 ovs) - Markram
44-2 (9.3 ovs) - du Plessis
129-3 (22.6 ovs) - de Kock
142-4 (25.5 ovs) - Duminy
144-5 (26.2 ovs) - Pretorius
167-6 (31.5 ovs) - van der Dussen
180-7 (34.1 ovs) - Phehlukwayo
193-8 (38.1 ovs) - Amla
207-9 (39.4 ovs) - Rabada
207-10 (39.5 ovs) - Tahir

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