Focus on Eoin Morgan as England beat South Africa in World Cup opener

Fitness

Hosts England suffered a major injury scare when their leader dislocated his left index finger during a training session just six days before the start of the tournament. Morgan was back in competitive action for the first time since suffering the problem after missing the warm-up clash with Australia and not being required to bat against Afghanistan having opted not to field. He showed no adverse effects during an aggressive innings and appeared to have little issue in the field.

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

After posting a target of 312, England missed a big opportunity to quickly take the wicket of Quinton De Kock – who went on to register 68 – after Morgan opted to remove the slip and the batsman escaped with a slash through third man in the third innings. Despite that early misjudgement, Morgan held his nerve with his bowling selections and did not panic when Liam Plunkett and Moeen Ali were conceding boundaries. His faith was rewarded as Plunkett eventually ended the resistance of De Kock and later dismissed head-injury victim Hashim Amla, while Moeen removed JP Duminy. Morgan also helped run out Dwaine Pretorius.

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.

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