England defeats South Africa; Ben Stokes named Man of the Match
England came out on top during the first game of the ICC World Cup 2019, and Ben Stokes had plenty to do with this. The hosts made a few errors at first, but more than made up for it with the ball and in the field. Their opponents simply didn’t stand a chance as they continued to make poor decisions that led to them loosing the game by 104 runs.
Imran Tahir surprised the home side by sending back Jonny Bairstow for a golden duck. England managed to recover thanks to half-centuries from Joe Root and Jason Roy. Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes also helped with a century stand and crossed the 50-run mark. Jos Buttler then took the team over 350.
The last 10 overs belonged to the Proteas as they mounted a come back that restricted England to 311 runs for the loss of eight wickets. Stokes led the run charts with 89 while Morgan, Roy, and Rooy had 50 each.
South Africa’s chances of winning could have been better. However, because of a 145 kph delivery from Jofra Archer that hit Hashim Alma on the helmet, poor shots from Aiden Markram and Faf du Plessis that gave away their wickets, they never recovered.
