Hosts kick off carnival today

It is not obvious if you are in London as the fanfare is not anywhere near what it is about 10,000 kilometres to the east in Dhaka, but the stage is all set for the 2019 World Cup to kick off with hosts England taking on South Africa today at The Oval. One of the world’s most famous cities is a busy place and it is understandable that there is rarely a single event that corners the attention of all, but while the city moves to its unalterably frenzied rhythm, the cricket world has alighted on the United Kingdom to witness the sport’s most prestigious event.

It is only natural that hosts England will open the World Cup, but that they are doing it against South Africa creates an interesting subplot. The teams contesting the opener are two of the biggest underachievers in World Cup history. England have played three finals -- at home in 1979, in India in 1987 and in Australia in 1992 -- and have lost each time. South Africa, on the other hand, have entered each World Cup since 1992 -- when they were readmitted to global cricket after two decades of exile because of apartheid -- as genuine contenders but through bad luck and mostly choking on the big stage, have been thwarted when they were a couple of steps away from the trophy after dominant campaigns.

England have not been realistic contenders since 1992, but this year it is different. Since being unceremoniously dumped from the group stage of the last World Cup in 2015 by Bangladesh, however, they have been at the forefront of pushing the boundaries of scoring in ODI cricket. It has taken them to the top of the ICC rankings ladder and this time, they are not only contenders, but downright favourites.

They have explosive hitters like Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow at the top and the likes of Jos Buttler, captain Eoin Morgan, all-rounders Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali to ensure the fireworks continue through the 50 overs, while the classy Joe Root is given the role to hold things together while scoring at a fair clip. In the recent ODI series against Pakistan, they have made chasing totals over 350 look like a cakewalk and have even been talking of breaching the 500-mark.

They also have a varied bowling attack with Ali bowling off-spin, Adil Rashid bowling leg-spin and the likes of Stokes, Curran and Plunkett providing pace. It is however latest entrant Jofra Archer, newly eligible to play for his adopted country, who may steal the show with his high pace.

South Africa will take the field having suffered a setback as pace supremo Dale Steyn was ruled out of the opener due to injury. They will still have the fearsome Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Andile Phehlukwayo to man the pace attack while Imran Tahir will try to beguile England with his leg-spin. Their batting is slightly less explosive than their opposition’s, but Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock are one of the best opening pairs in the world and can lay any attack to the sword, setting the scene for skipper Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy, David Miller and Chris Morris to take the team to a huge total, which is expected to be the norm on flat tracks in this World Cup.

Closer to home Bangladesh will also play their first World Cup match against South Africa on June 2, also at The Oval. With the venue traditionally known to offer a bit of spin, the Tigers will have their eyes glued on today’s match to take pointers on how to tackle Proteas. Judging by their relative strengths and their respective recent records, the match should be a humdinger and England should be able to show Bangladesh the way forward.