South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir etched his name into the record books on Thursday, as he became the first spinner in history to bowl the first ball and indeed the opening over of a World Cup.
After electing to bowl against England in the opening match at The Oval, South Africa captain Faf du Plessis surprised the English batsmen walking out to bat by introducing spinner Imran Tahir in the first over. The leg-spinner got Jonny Bairstow caught behind off just his second ball and set off on his characteristic run in celebration, to get the World Cup off to a dramatic start.
Bairstow failed to read Tahir's googly and moved forward to defend it, but ended up giving a catch to stumper Quinton de Kock.
Prior to this, New Zealand great Martin Crowe had surprised everyone in the 1992 World Cup by bringing off-spinner Dipak Patel into the attack in just the second over. Patel bowled the second over in his side's clash with Australia, which the Kiwis won by 37 runs.
In the past, the first ball of every World Cup has been delivered by seamers including iconic players like Andy Roberts and Richard Hadlee.
Incidentally, Imran Tahir at 40 is one of the oldest players in the tournament and is tipped to be among the leading wicket-takers at this year's World Cup.
Tahir eventually went for 61 runs off his 10 overs, picking up 2 wickets in the process.
At the time of writing during the innings break, the Englishmen had managed to score 311 runs in their stipulated 50 overs batting first.
For England, Ben Stokes was the top scorer with a rapid-fire 89 off 79 balls, studded with 9 fours. Lundi Ngidi was the pick of the bowlers for the South Africans finishing with 3 wickets.