What is it?
2019 World Cup opening match
Who is playing?
England v South Africa
When is it?
Today, 1.30pm (UAE time) start
Where is it being played?
The Oval, London
How to watch in UAE?
Tune in to OSN Sports Cricket HD or create an online account with Wavo for US$54 (a little less than Dh200). The account will provide customers access to two channels, OSN Cric Xtra 1 and OSN Cric Xtra 2.
What’s their head-to-head like?
Matches: 59
England won: 26
South Africa won: 29
Tied: 1
No result: 3
Form guide (past five games):
England: WWWWL
South Africa: WWWWW
What they said:
Eoin Morgan, England captain, on handling pressure of expectations: "In World Cups that I've played in, and a couple of guys in the changing room have played in, we have gone in without much expectation and not done that well. I would pick this position over that."
Faf du Plessis, South Africa captain, on playing a form team such as England: "If you get too focused on the opposition, you can get distracted. It's just about really trying to stay present and in what we can control, and that's how we practise, how we get ourselves ready for games."
Likely XIs:
England: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Liam Plunkett.
South Africa: Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (wk), Faf du Plessis (c), Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, JP Duminy, Andile Phehlukwayo, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir.
Summary:
South Africa go into today's World Cup opening match without Dale Steyn, their most experienced fast bowler, who is still nursing a shoulder injury he suffered at the Indian Premier League. This leaves a big hole for the Proteas to fill given the right-armer has taken 196 ODI wickets in just 125 appearances.
Nonetheless, Du Plessis has at his disposal a formidable bowling attack that includes pacemen Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Chris Morris and Andile Phehlukwayo, as well as in-form leg-spinner Imran Tahir.
How they measure up to England's explosive batting line-up could well determine who wins at The Oval today.
