England’s Jos Buttler won the toss and chose to bowl first against South Africa in their Cricket World Cup pool clash at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on Saturday. Ben Stokes returns to the side after recovering from a hip injury, providing a boost to the team. Seamers David Willey and Gus Atkinson have also been included in the lineup. The match will take place at this venue for the first time in the competition, on what seems to be a favorable batting track.
Buttler stated, “We want to impose ourselves on this game, it is usually a good ground to chase on so we will bowl first.”
South Africa will be without captain Temba Bavuma, who is ill. The team will be led by Twenty20 International skipper Aiden Markram, while Reeza Hendricks will replace Bavuma at the top of the batting order. Markram expressed confidence in their ability to set up a good total, given the favorable conditions of the pitch. He said, “If we operate at the right standards, we think we can get the right result.”
Both England and South Africa are aiming to bounce back from surprising defeats in their previous matches. England suffered a 69-run loss against Afghanistan, while South Africa was defeated by 38 runs against the Netherlands.
The teams for the match are:
England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (capt.), David Willey, Adil Rashid, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, Reece Topley
South Africa: Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram (capt.), Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi
Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by Kirsten Donovan
