Eoin Morgan mulls opening options after Jason Roy suffers back spasm

“It was a chance to play against different players in different conditions in what is probably now one of the biggest competitions in cricket, after the IPL”.

Also key is the possible effect of England’s test series victory, its first over South Africa in 11 years.

The Nottinghamshire batsman has been in outstanding 50-over form of late, an ever-present in the side during the past two series against Australia and Pakistan and averaging 56.42 in that time.

“He obviously had a back spasm yesterday”, Morgan revealed on Monday. It is looking good. Stokes was then rested for the Pakistan series in the UAE but would have missed it anyway because he subsequently suffered a cracked shoulder.

England will re-integrate test players Root, Stokes, Moeen Ali, James Taylor and the recalled Stuart Broad into a squad of promise with the likes of Jordan, Jos Buttler and Jason Roy – should Roy recover from a back problem in time to be fit to open the batting in the first ODI.

AB de Villiers’ side also reached last year’s World Cup semi-finals, when they lost a thriller against New Zealand, although England have proved in the past nine months that they are not cowed by reputation.

“It makes me proud of the squad when guys continue to score runs even though they may not be in the hunt of gaining a place in the side”, said Morgan. In 2015 alone, the Proteas scored four totals above 400, the most by any worldwide team, success which was based on the solid contributions from the batsmen.

“We don’t know our best XI yet and I think that is really exciting”, said Morgan.

There is much uncertainty therefore about South Africa’s pace resources, but all-rounder JP Duminy insists the hosts are still in good shape after winning their last two ODI series – including, most recently, in India.

AB de Villiers, the South African captain and the world’s No. 1-ranked ODI batsman, will hope for a return to form after making three ducks in his last three Test innings against England.

De Villiers bestrides the International Cricket Council rankings and, for good measure, is world record-holder too for the all-time fastest century – from just 31 balls against West Indies previous year.

The app will also keep you in the loop with all the latest cricket news, and current live matches being played can be followed in the Current Matches section. “Every game that I play, I’m like that”, De Villiers, who will turn 32 later this month, said at a pre-match press conference on Wednesday.

A specialist opener was picked in the case of Stephen Cook, albeit belatedly, while Quinton de Kock looks to have solidified the position as wicketkeeper and the continued improvement of Temba Bavuma and Kagiso Rabada means that South Africa have something to look forward to.

“One thing for him, I know he strives to improve on it, is his consistency”. On his best day he can win a game for us but on his half-good day he still wants to win for us.