After a lot of anticipation, the twelfth edition of ICC World Cup 2019 is set to begin with the host-England taking on South Africa at the Oval in London. The question in front of the host still remains the same, can they lift the World Cup in front of their home crowd? Going by a trend set by India and Australia, and the current form of England, its idea looks well within the cards. The serious business starts and both the teams will be eager to make a mark and gain enough confidence early in the competition. England are the hot favourites to win the title while the Proteas are also a team brimming with talent and experience.
It will all be about the nerves in the first few overs for both the sides and it will be interesting to see how things unfold then. As far as the team combination is concerned, Jofra Archer, Liam Plunkett and Chris Woakes seem to make it to the playing XI with Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali as the two spinners. The batting order picks itself. South Africa have an injury issue with Dale Steyn being ruled out of the opening game and Dwaine Pretorius or Chris Morris could play this game.
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With less than 24 hours for the mega event to begin, News Nation brings to you as what could be the best combined eleven for the first game in World Cup:
Fantasy Cricket 11:
Wicket Keepers: Jos Buttler and Quinton de Kock
Batsmen: Jason Roy, Faf du Plessis (vc), Hashim Amla, David Miller
All-Rounders: Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes
Bowlers: Imran Tahir, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer (c)
Teams:
England
Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (C), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett, Tom Curran, James Vince, Mark Wood, Liam Dawson.
South Africa
Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (wk), Faf du Plessis (C), Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, JP Duminy, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir, Chris Morris, Dale Steyn, Aiden Markram, Tabraiz Shamsi.