England vs South Africa Preview: Piping-hot England begin quest for maiden trophy

The Nightwatchman
May 29, 2019
3 min read

Updated: May 30, 2019

South African captain Faf du Plessis and his England counterpart Eoin Morgan will be hoping for the perfect start in tonights World Cup opener

Tipped heavily to win their maiden World Cup, England will hope to get their campaign off to a cracking start when they take on South Africa at the Oval on Thursday evening (AEST). For a change the South Africans are not amongst the favourites. In a slight worry for organisers, rain fell on Wednesday night but it is expected to clear for play to start on time. South Africa were handed a massive blow when spearhead Dale Steyn was ruled out with a shoulder injury. "Dale is a big loss to our team but we expected it. When we picked the squad, he was 60% ready, so we anticipated for this to happen. But a fit Steyn would make our attack a strong one, so we need to make a few changes to our team for England," confessed South African skipper Faf du Plessis. The 35-year-old's absence gives England a great advantage. South Africa will now bank on their other premier pacers, like the hugely talented Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi, to stop the rampaging English opening pair of Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow. England's batting muscles starts from the top. In the class Joe Root and skipper Eoin Morgan, they have two solid middle-order batsmen with loads of experience. Then comes the 'superman' of their batting, Jos Buttler, who is riding on the form of his life which includes quick fire hundreds against the West Indies and Pakistan in recent times, as well as enjoying another prolific IPL. If Butler maintains his magical touch, many are tipping him to be the player of the tournament.

“They have got wicket-takers, and spinners who do well in these conditions. But their biggest asset is the fact that they are very balanced and they have got a very long batting lineup. I don’t think there are any other teams in the world where you have all your bowlers that can come in and score runs at the end. So their balance is their real strength,” praised du Plessis. Having been the highest wicket-taker (126) since the 2015 World Cup, Rashid can hope to find a lot of success in a tournament where the pitches might dry out in the second half.

Having won 15 of their last 19 ODI series, England are now desperate to win this trophy and assert their supremacy in this format. However, it’s never wise to underestimate what the Proteas can do.

WATCH OUT FOR - THE BATTLE OF LEG-SPINNERS IN ADIL RASHID AND IMRAN TAHIR

Adil Rashid and Imran Tahir will both be looking to spin their nations to a first up win on Thursday.

Leg-spinners have been ruling the roost in limited-overs cricket of late. It is perhaps apt then that the opening clash of the World Cup will see two leggier at the top of their game pitted against each other. While South Africa have the wily old silver fox in Imran Tahir assuming the mantle of lead spinner, England - for a change - are up to the task. Adil Rashid has steadily grown in stature for England, and a World Cup in home conditions is the ideal platform for him to showcase his talent. Both of them are fairly similar in their approach, given that they rely heavily on their well disguised googles to outsmart batsmen. Tahir, in particular, will be high on confidence after finishing as the higher wicket-taker in the just concluded IPL. PREDICTION Jonny Bairstow will go into the fixture on the back of some poor showings in the warm up matches and will be looking to reverse his form to get his side off to a good start. If thrown the ball early Imran Tahir could prove troublesome not only for Bairstow but for the whole English batting unit, and with Rabada and Ngidi, the South Africans will give the English a fight. However, the strong middle order of England, and their bowling attack will prove too much for the South Africans who have shown to be too reliant on Quinton de Kock in recent times, though the return to form of Amla brings hope. England to win by 40-60 runs or 4 wickets. STATISTICS HEAD TO HEAD ODI HEAD TO HEAD IN WORLD CUPS Matches: 59 Matches: 6 England: 26 England: 3