Faf du Plessis led South Africa took on Eoin Morgan’s England in the tournament opener of the World Cup 2019. The hosts and current No.1 ODI team England completely destroyed the South African side as they handed the latter a loss by 104 runs.

The Proteas asked the Morgan and Co. to bat first after winning the toss. The Englishmen managed to score 311-8 in their 50 overs and bundled out South Africa for 207.

When asked about the loss, skipper du Plessis admitted that they were completely outplayed by the hosts and added, “You are going to play games and come up against opposition that is better than you. England beat us in all three facets of the game.”

The 34-year-old right handed batsman then stressed on the point that they wanted to move on from the loss quickly as he said, “As much as we are disappointed, we will want to learn from it quickly and put it to bed. We want to move on from it quickly.”

The in-form opener Hashim Amla took a blow on the helmet and failed the concussion test and had to go back to the dressing room in the 4th over while chasing huge target of 312 runs posted by the hosts.

The batsman from Pretoria then opined that Hashim Amla returning early after taking a blow on the helmet affected the chase as he said, “A good start is really important. With him (Amla) coming off, a few overs later Aiden (Markram) got out and then I got out. When you go three down, it becomes tough and the score looks big, it looks too far.”

South Africa take on Bangladesh next on June 2 at the same venue where they suffered a big loss.

(With PTI inputs)