Captain Morgan convinces as England conquer South Africa

Eoin Morgan hit a half-century as he captained England to a convincing victory over South Africa in the opening match of the 2019 World Cup.

The Dublin-born left-hander recovered from a recent finger injury to lead his side to a 104-run win.

Here, Press Association Sport analyses Morgan’s performance at the Oval.

Fitness

Batting

The quickfire dismissals of opener Jason Roy and Joe Root, which followed a golden duck for Jonny Bairstow on the second delivery of the match, left Morgan at the crease alongside Ben Stokes early in the 20th over. He wasted little time in joining Roy and Root on reaching 50. His impressive knock of 57 from 60 balls included England’s only three sixes of the match and a 106-run partnership with Stokes, while also taking him past 7,000 ODI runs. He was eventually out in the 37th over after chipping an Imran Tahir delivery to long-on, where Aiden Markram charged forward to take a superb catch.

Captaincy

Overall

Morgan became the first England player to feature in 200 ODIs on Thursday. He went into the competition insisting he was comfortable with his side being favourites. In front of a sell-out crowd, Morgan’s men recovered from a shaky start to begin justifying that tag. The 32-year-old said in the build-up that beating South Africa by any means was the aim.  The world’s top-ranked side are capable of performing better but satisfied their skipper by easing to a straightforward win as Stokes starred – including a sensational catch – and Jofra Archer impressed with the ball.