A home win ticked one box, the coming of an exciting new global star another. There was a catch of the century candidate and even a ‘what happened next?’ moment when the zinger bails refused to topple despite Adil Rashid illuminating the stumps with a wrong’un. With the weather playing ball as well, a packed house at The Oval went away delighted.
There are 43 more days to come of this and 47 more games. If the tournament can keep up this pace it will be a rip-roaring success.
This World Cup and the Ashes which follows are critical to the health of the sport in this country.
Two schools border The Oval – Archbishop Tenison’s and Lilian Baylis Technology School. They may be within touching distance of the ground which proudly hosted the World Cup’s opening game but neither play cricket.
They are not unusual. Only 12 % of secondary school children are listed as playing the game on a proper pitch in the latest available figures.
The number of active adult participants has dropped to 292,000 from almost 500,000 a decade ago, according to Sport England.
If the decline is to be reversed, this summer needs to see the blue touch paper lit for cricket.
For all the gimmicks which cricket has brought in – the flashing bails and the guitarcam that featured on the big screen yesterday – it is the game and the players by which it ultimately stands or falls.
England captain Eoin Morgan talked pre-tournament about the World Cup’s capacity to create heroes if his side got it right and two natural showmen immediately put themselves forward.
Ben Stokes has endured his share of villain status after his brush with the law which ended with him being cleared of affray last year but there was nothing but love for him from The Oval crowd yesterday. Adoration even after that catch that saw the stadium explode.
Jofra Archer is the new kid on the block but no less of a hit as the curtain was raised on the World Cup in vibrant fashion.
Archer made a dent in Hashim Amla’s helmet grille yesterday and an equally big impression on those who saw him in the flesh for the first time including the South Africans.
“Archer bowled really well with the new ball. A lot of the guys haven’t played against him and it will take a while for them to get used to him,” said South Africa captain Faf du Plessis.
“He’s a little bit nippier when he hits the crease and that’s why he is such an x-factor bowler. His short ball is his quick ball and his wicket-taking ball.”
One-day international cricket is supposed to be a batsman’s game but speed shifts the paradigm and Archer had the South Africans hopping.
There is a glorious ease and efficiency of movement about his bowling. When he was gliding in during his opening spell from the Pavilion End and sending down thunderbolts he was operating in a different sphere.
It was barely a month ago that Archer’s place in the England squad was a matter of debate and some controversy but it seems a long time ago. The Barbados-born Archer is already an integral part of this England team and a key man in their World Cup bid.
Flowing like a Himalayan stream, he unleashed a barrage which peaked at 93mph and gave the South Africans a distinct hurry-up on a sluggish wicket.
He could end up being the most significant sporting figure of the English summer.
A place in the Test squad is beckoning and the Australians, lying in wait for their defence of the Ashes, will certainly have taken notice.
For the next six weeks though it is the one-day game which commands centre stage and from the first over, when South Africa’s innovative use of leg spinner Imran Tahir to take the new ball brought the wicket of Jonny Bairstow, to the last as Stokes polished off the Proteas with two wickets in three balls, the opening game pulsed.
At its conclusion a ropy chorus of ‘Cricket’s Coming Home’ echoed around The Oval. Not yet it isn’t but it may yet do this summer.