South Africa bowl first at Kimberley, in bid for series clean-sweep

By Chris On Feb 1, 2023

Toss South Africa chose to bowl first vs England

South Africa captain Temba Bavuma won the toss and opted to field against England in the third and final ODI between the sides in Kimberley.

While the hosts are looking to seal the series 3-0 and further bolster their hopes of qualifying directly for this year’s World Cup, England will want to avoid losing six straight ODIs for the first time since 2009 as they build towards their World Cup defence.

“The ground generally is quite a hard to defend on with short, straight boundaries,” Bavuma explained as South Africa made three changes to the side which won by five wickets on Sunday.

Quinton de Kock has been ruled out as a precaution after he injured his right thumb behind the stumps during that match. X-rays cleared him of serious injury and he did return to bat as South Africa completed a record run-chase in Bloemfontein. But medical staff advised that keeping wicket could aggravate the injury and, given he was only available as a batter for the series finale, CSA said selectors had “opted not to take any risks” and rest him. Heinrich Klaasen will keep wicket in his place and Reeza Hendricks comes into the side to open the batting.

Tabraiz Shamsi and Sisanda Magala – player of the match with his 3 for 46 in the opening game – also come into the side with Anrich Nortje and Keshav Maharaj missing out.

England have made just one change, bringing Jofra Archer back in after he rested during the second game, as part of his comeback from a lengthy absence with elbow and back injuries. He replaces Olly Stone.

Skipper Jos Buttler revealed he would also have opted to bowl first: “We would have chased as well but I haven’t had much luck with the toss,” Buttler said. “We’re disappointed to have lost the series but have lots to play for today.”

Play was set to begin in sweltering conditions but with cloud cover building to the west.

South Africa: 1 Reeza Hendricks, 2 Temba Bavuma (capt), Rassie van der Dussen, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 David Miller, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Wayne Parnell, 9 Sisanda Magala, 10 Lungi Ngidi, 11 Tabraiz Shamsi

England: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Dawid Malan, 3 Ben Duckett, 4 Harry Brook, 5 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 6 Moeen Ali, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Jofra Archer, 11 Reece Topley

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