Eoin Morgan comments on England’s win vs SA: English captain lauds Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer for their performances

Eoin Morgan comments on England’s win vs SA: English captain was vocal about star performers from first match of Cricket World Cup 2019.

During the first match of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 between England and South Africa at The Oval, England defeated South Africa by 104 runs to start off their World Cup campaign on an affirmative note.

In what was a clinical all-round performance, England thrived across departments to stand tall on their “favourites” tag. Having set a 312-run target, English bowlers bundled out South Africa for 207 in 39.5 overs.

Eoin Morgan comments on England’s win vs SA

Speaking during the post-match presentation ceremony, England captain Eoin Morgan expressed delight and satisfaction at registering their first victory of the tournament. “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. Extremely impressed,” Morgan was quoted as saying.

On Ben Stokes

Coming in to bat at No. 5 in the 20th over, England all-rounder Ben Stokes top-scored for his team amassing 89 (79) with the help of nine fours. With bowling figures of 2.5-0-12-2, Stokes dismissed the last two South African batsmen. In addition to this, Stokes had also snatched an unbelievable one-handed catch to dismiss South Africa all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo.

“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,” Morgan said about Stokes’ Man of the Match performance.

On Jofra Archer

In Jofra Archer, England have a fast bowler who has been accumulating plentiful remarks from across the globe. On his World Cup debut, Archer (7-1-27-3) ended up as the pick of the bowlers for England. Being asked about Archer, Morgan praised his improvement at the highest level.

“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. 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,” Morgan added.