Sensational Ben Stokes pulls off a blinder on the field against South Africa

The first match of the 2019 World Cup saw England crush South Africa by a margin of 104 runs. The hosts were powered by a collective team effort as they kicked off their campaign in style at the Kennington Oval on Thursday. While England supporters got plenty to cheer about through the course of the match, it was one mesmerising catch from Ben Stokes that left them jaw dropped.

The catch was witnessed in the 35th over of South Africa's innings when Andile Phehlukwayo looked to smack Adil Rashid over the fence for a maximum. However, Ben Stokes had other plans. As the ball travelled quickly towards the boundary, the English all-rounder jumped to full stretch and went with a reverse cup to pluck an unbelievable catch out of thin air at deep-mid wicket.

The cricketer's acrobatic display left the spectators and the commentators in awe as adjectives were found short to describe the effort; "You cannot do that!" Nasser Hussain quipped on the air. Ben Stokes himself seemed to be in disbelief for a while after pulling off that stunner on the field. Sharing his views on the catch at the presentation ceremony the 27-year-old said that he panicked a bit, but the ball stuck in the end.

The Twitterati too, are in complete astonishment. Calling the catch as the "best one of all time" and rechristening Stokes as "Superman" the netizens have been going gaga over the fielding display. In fact, former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has already declared it as the "catch of the tournament"!

And it was not just on the field that Stokes proved to be a hero for England. The southpaw, who was adjudged as the man of the match, even played a crucial knock of 89 in the first innings to help England get past the 300-mark, which proved to be match-winning total in the end.