Ben Stokes produced the perfect all-round display, top-scoring with 89 off 79 balls, his highest international score for two years, as England opened their campaign in style at The Oval. Two wickets from his 17 deliveries rattled out South Africa’s lower order as the world number one side claimed a commanding 104-run victory. But it was THAT catch, which remained the talking point. (Video Courtesy: ICC)
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00:00 Yeah, I've answered quite a few questions about it and I think the best way to describe
00:10 it is I was in the wrong position to start with.
00:14 So yeah, pretty regulation catch turned into, yeah, it was a great feeling to be a part
00:20 of it in front of the crowd but if I was in the right position I probably wouldn't have
00:23 to do that.
00:24 You feel tough and always called it the catch of the century, maybe a bit tongue in cheek
00:27 but would you put it up there with some of the best you've caught and seen as well?
00:32 Yeah, I think it's up there with some of the best ones I've taken.
00:36 Catch of the century though?
00:40 No, I think that's probably a bit too much.
00:44 Yeah, good catch, great feeling at the time to do it in front of that crowd as well.
00:48 It was one of those moments that I just tried to take it.
00:50 I mean the crowd, you could see you kind of soaking it in, you paused there and it was
00:55 a great crowd today and a great victory for England to get this tournament and get the
01:01 show on their own.
01:02 Yeah, the amazing thing about having the World Cup in England this year is that we know we're
01:06 going to have great support wherever we go and the Oval is always a great atmosphere
01:10 when we play series as well.
01:13 So not too dissimilar to what we were expecting to be honest but in terms of the game it's
01:21 great to get that first game out of the way and even better to get a win because there
01:26 was a few nerves kicking around this morning.
01:30 To play on such a big stage it was pretty obvious that there was going to be a few different
01:33 feelings in the changing rooms but to walk away with the way that we played today, it
01:36 was a complete team performance.
01:37 I was going to say, with the early loss of Johnny there, it looked like there could be
01:42 some early nerves, so much pressure on starting the tournament well and what this tournament
01:48 means to English cricket.
01:49 So to get convincing win like that, over the line so comfortably in the end, must be really
01:54 gratifying.
01:55 Yeah, it is.
01:58 The wicket didn't play like it normally does here.
02:00 It's normally a really, really good batting wicket.
02:02 It was quite a tough going.
02:03 I thought South Africa bowled really well towards the end.
02:07 We weren't quite sure where we were going to get our boundaries from.
02:09 They took all the pace off the ball and tried to make us force the issue.
02:14 I think it just shows where we came as a batting unit that we can adapt to different situations
02:18 now.
02:19 Two, three years ago we might have only got 270, 218 and it would have been a lot easier.
02:24 If you get over that 300 mark, there is a slight psychological advantage to having to
02:29 chase over 300.
02:30 I suppose it's a mark of how far this England team have come.
02:33 Some people looked at that score at lunch and thought it's actually below par for England.
02:38 We talk about trying to hit a 500 and an ODI.
02:43 It's not going to be as simple as that in a tournament like this, is it?
02:46 No, definitely not.
02:47 It's probably not as easy to see watching the conditions that you are faced with as
02:52 a batsman out there.
02:53 It was a bit of a tennis ball bounce.
02:56 When they took all the pace off the ball, it was really hard to get boundaries away.
03:02 We were happy at halfway getting 310.
03:06 We were able to see how they bowled and used their conditions to their advantage.
03:10 We knew what we had to try and do.
03:11 Finally, for me, for yourself, it's going to be hard to top today, isn't it?
03:15 Personally, you're top scored.
03:18 That catch was amazing.
03:19 That little scoop shot as well.
03:20 You're obviously going to hope that you're going to have better days in this tournament,
03:25 but to get off to a flyer like that must be so pleasing.
03:29 It's always good getting into the tournament and starting off pretty well, but that all
03:33 counts for nothing when you come to your next game.
03:36 It's all about starting and rebuilding as a team and seeing what conditions we've got
03:42 in front of us.
03:43 That's going to be the hard thing for us this World Cup, facing what's in front of
03:48 us at the time.
03:49 A lot has been said about the batting unit.
03:50 What would you say about the bowling unit and what Dr Archer brings to the inside?
03:58 I think our bowling unit has been very, very solid over the last couple of years, as well
04:02 as our batting.
04:03 There's obviously a lot that gets said about how destructive our batting line-up is.
04:09 Sometimes it can go under the radar and not get the points that they deserve.
04:13 You look at someone like Chris Wokes, who's just been a consistent performer for us, and
04:18 having someone like Joffre come into the team now with his pace and his skill level, everyone
04:23 talks about the X-factor and he's definitely got it.
04:27 The future is bright for him as a player and I hope it's in England.
04:31 What would you say about the journey over the last two to three years?
04:34 What do you tribute the success and the ongoing success of the team?
04:39 A lot of credit has to go to Trevor Bayliss and Owen Morgan in terms of the way that he's
04:44 wanted our side to go forward.
04:47 Go out there, express yourself as individuals and always take the positive option.
04:52 We've learnt along the way, we've had some hiccups in terms of not some great team performances,
04:58 but we've learnt from them and become a much better team.
05:01 Adapting to tricky conditions and different surfaces has definitely been one of them,
05:04 which is going to be massive in this World Cup with all the different venues and different
05:10 grounds we're going to be playing at.
05:12 Just one more, have England laid down a marker today?
05:15 Favourites going into the tournament, but you've backed it up already, do you think?
05:20 I think we've shown what we can do, not just with the bat and ball but also in the field
05:25 as well.
05:26 I think that's probably the best fielding performance we've put in as a team in probably
05:29 about three or four years to be honest.
05:31 Jason Roy led that at Backwood Point, he did some amazing stops.
05:36 When you can save 20 or 30 runs in a game in the field, that's massive.
05:41 So hopefully we've set the marker there for us going forward, but there's a long way left
05:46 and this is just a building platform for us.
05:48 Thanks guys, cheers.
05:49 Sweet.
05:50 Bye.
05:51 Bye, cheers.
05:52 Just wait.
05:52 Cheers.
05:53 Cheers.
05:53 Cheers.
05:54 Cheers.
05:55 Cheers.
05:55 (upbeat music)
05:58 (upbeat music)