ICC CWC19 | England vs South Africa: England will put four years of planning to the test when they face South Africa in the opening match of the 2019 World Cup at the Oval on Thursday

So embarrassing was England’s first-round exit at the 2015 edition in Australia and New Zealand it prompted a major rethink of their attitude to the white-ball game.

The transformation has been remarkable, with Eoin Morgan’s men climbing to the top of the one-day international rankings

When: Thursday May 30, 2019 at 10:30am Local Time

Where: The Oval, London

What to expect: Although The Oval is generally good for batting, the pitch had a distinctly green look to it 24 hours before the start of the match – although some of that may be shaved off before the match. There was also some wet weather around in London on Wednesday but the forecast for the game itself is dry but cloudy. An early start, a green pitch and some cloud cover. Who says being a bowler can’t be fun anymore?

Team News

England

Eoin Morgan says he knows his eleven for the match but will not reveal it until the toss. The batting order is set in stone and so the only decision will have been in the seam bowling attack. Mark Wood, still working his way back to fitness, may sit out with Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes likely to take the new ball and Liam Plunkett the third seamer.

Possible XI: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid

South Africa

Without Steyn, South Africa have to choose between Chris Morris or Dwaine Pretorius as the fourth seamer. And if all-out attack is their bowling plan then Morris, slightly quicker, may get the nod. In the batting department, despite a poor IPL, David Miller is likely to be preferred to the inexperienced Rassie van der Dussen.

Possible XI: Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram, Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy, David Miller, Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir

What they said:

Eoin Morgan: “Level of expectation and the favourites tag is there for a reason. Our form over the last two years at home in particular has been outstanding. In other World Cups we’ve gone in with very little expectation and not done very well. I’d pick this position over that.”

Faf du Plessis: “For us as a leadership group, it’s trying to find how can we be most attacking and trying to get wickets. Obviously that was with Dale included but that changed now, so we’ll look at setting up our team to try to make sure we can get guys on the team that can get wickets.”

Teams:

England (From): Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan(c), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Tom Curran, Mark Wood, James Vince, Liam Dawson

South Africa (From): Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock(w), Faf du Plessis(c), Rassie van der Dussen, Jean-Paul Duminy, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir, Aiden Markram, Tabraiz Shamsi, Chris Morris