London, May 30 (IANS) South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to bowl against England in the World Cup opener at The Oval on Thursday.

For South Africa, Dale Steyn, Chris Morris, David Miller and Tabraiz Shamsi are not part of the playing XI.

England have not included Liam Dawson, Mark Wood, Tom Curran and James Vince for the opener.

At the toss, Faf: Going to have a bowl. Early start at the Oval, if there's anything in the wicket, it's now. Shamsi, Miller, Morris, Steyn not playing. Steyn's around 80%. The start of the World Cup. It's going to be a good one. Ngidi and KG have been exceptional over the last couple of years. Good to see Amla scoring runs in the warm up.

Morgan: Would've looked to do the same. Wicket looks really good. It's set fair all day, shouldn't change much. Yes, Wood was available for selection. But unfortunately he's missed out. Archer's a guy who's come in and impressed. He's very calm when he plays. He's a very exciting prospect. Yeah, the favourites tag sits comfortably. It's been a collective drive for us.

Playing XI: England: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan(c), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid
South Africa: Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock(w), Aiden Markram, Faf du Plessis(c), Rassie van der Dussen, Jean-Paul Duminy, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir

--IANS aak/bbh