England aim to dominate SA in World Cup opener

London: Hosts and hot favourites England will know this is their best chance to lift the crown for the first time, when they take on perennial underachievers South Africa in the World Cup opener at The Oval here on Thursday.

England, who are still in search of their first trophy like South Africa, have risen from the ashes of their poor campaign in the showpiece last time, following that group-stage exit by ascending to the summit of the ICC ODI rankings.

Eoin Morgan's side boast of the most dominant batting unit in 50-over cricket and their bowling too oozes the firepower few teams can rival.

Such has been England's dominance that their 4-0 whitewash of Pakistan earlier this summer meant the Three Lions haven't lost a multi-game series for two-and-a-half years.

In the warm-up games, England faltered in their first outing losing to fellow title contenders Australia before chalking up an easy win over lesser lights Afghanistan.

But other teams would very well know that these matches mean little when it comes to tournament proper where the English bat as deep as anyone with the likes of Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy boasting the highest strike-rates of any openers in ODI history to have posted more than 1,000 runs, yet still have the highest average of any pair topping the order in the competition.

Joe Root is one of the world's best batters in all formats with skipper Morgan, in-form Jos Buttler, all-rounder Ben Stokes following him to lead a talent-laden cast of cricketers. In men's ODI history, only 20 players have ever averaged over 25 with the bat at a strike-rate over 100.