Cricket World Cup 2019: Skipper Eoin Morgan lauds Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer as England beat South Africa in opener

Termed as the favourites to win their maiden World Cup, hosts England kick started their ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 campaign with a comprehensive 104-run win over Faf du Plessis-led South Africa at The Oval in London on Thursday.

Skipper Eoin Morgan was delighted with the team’s performance. “Delighted to be off and running in this tournament. It’s more satisfying than normal. We were very good today, the wicket didn’t allow us to execute our plan which is to try and score quite a considerable total, but I thought the maturity and smart cricket we played shows the effort we put in the last two years and the experience as well,” said Morgan.

While Morgan, Jason Roy and Joe Root scored fifties, Ben Stokes‘ 89 helped England cross the 300-run mark. The allrounder then scalped two wickets of the ball and took a stunning catch before running out Dwaine Pretorius.

Morgan was wholesome while praising the allrounder and the England bowlers, including Jofra Archer, who on his World Cup debut, scalped three wickets. (ALSO READ: Archer makes England a tougher force)

“Extremely impressed. He (Stokes) had a field day and especially that catch he took was absolutely outstanding. To have a match-winner like that in the side, he is someone who lifts absolutely everybody and I thought the bowling unit really did get off to a great start and continued to learn from the first innings and then put into place in second innings,” said Morgan.

” (It was a) Slowish pitch, he (Archer) bowled fast and accurate and it’s outstanding. He is taking everything in his stride at the moment and he is improving everyday and that’s very exciting,” added Morgan. (ALSO READ: Ben Stokes on his stunning catch and England win)

Morgan, who was playing his 200th ODI for England, was also happy with the team’s effort in the field.

“Huge amount of pleasure. It’s an area we were always trying to improve on and certainly we are looking for match winning contributions in the field,” concluded Morgan.