Cricket

England win toss, bowl as South Africa make wholesale changes

Toss England bowl first vs South Africa

England captain Ben Stokes has won the toss and asked South Africa to bat first under threatening skies in the third and final Test at The Oval.

With the series locked at 1-1 and South Africa targeting top spot on the WTC points table – they currently sit second, 12 points behind Australia – both sides have it all to play for.

Torrential rain which hit London overnight had cleared by match morning, although the outfield remained wet enough to prompt umpires Richard Kettleborough and Nitin Menon to delay the scheduled toss by half an hour.

As confirmed by Stokes on match eve, Harry Brook will make his debut in place of Jonny Bairstow, who is expected to spend an extended period on the sidelines after his freak golfing injury. Joe Root presented Brook with his Test cap, while Marcus Trescothick gave James Anderson a cap to mark his 175th Test after the pair played together in Anderson’s debut in 2003.

“Massively disappointed for Jonny, he’s been absolutely phenomenal this summer,” Stokes told Sky Sports. “He’s been the spearhead of what we wanted to achieve this summer. Harry Brook gets that opportunity, he thoroughly deserves the situation he finds himself in.”

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South Africa have made wholesale changes, least surprisingly bringing in Ryan Rickelton for Rassie van der Dussen, who fractured his finger while fielding during the second Test at Old Trafford.
Dean Elgar, their captain, revealed at the toss that Lungi Ngidi was injured – he has a hamstring problem – while Aiden Markram and Simon Harmer have been omitted. As a result, Marco Jansen returns to the side after being overlooked for the second Test and Khaya Zondo will play his second Test after making his debut against Bangladesh in April, replacing Markram, who has struggled for form. Wiaan Mulder, meanwhile, will play his first Test since that home series against Bangladesh, as South Africa seek to shore up their batting while providing an extra seam option.

A quarter of an hour before the players were due to take the field, heavy storm clouds engulfed the ground and, sure enough, the rain arrived to further delay the start of play, which had already been pushed back by 30 minutes.

England: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Alex Lees, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Ben Foakes (wk), 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Ollie Robinson, 10 Jack Leach, 11 James Anderson

South Africa: 1 Dean Elgar (capt), 2 Sarel Erwee, 3 Keegan Petersen, 4 Ryan Rickelton, 5 Khaya Zondo, 6 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 7 Wiaan Mulder, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Anrich Nortje

Valkerie Baynes is a general editor at ESPNcricinfo