02:29
Must bring out our best game – Amla
Almost exactly a year since they started their woeful World Cup campaign with a crushing defeat in Melbourne, England have the opportunity to sustain their white-ball improvement by wrapping up an ODI series win against South Africa in Centurion.
Victory would continue a remarkable resurgence from England. They have won 10 of their completed 16 ODIs since the World Cup, including all of their last five, whereas from May 30, 2014 to May 8, 2015, they won only five of 22 completed ODIs against Full Nation members of the ICC.
With England having won the first two matches in the five-game series, South Africa need to win to avoid suffering defeat in a Test and ODI section of a touring side’s visit for the first time in 14 years.
For both teams, this match also offers a last chance for players to impress ahead of the naming of the World T20 squads tomorrow. While changes can be made without ICC permission up until March 8, it is likely that will only happen in the event of injury.
But England resisted the chance to take a look at the likes of Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes or James Taylor and retained the same XI that had served them so well in the opening couple of games. Eoin Morgan won the toss and chose to bat first.
AB de Villiers admitted he would have chosen to bowl first anyway, had he won the toss. South Africa have made one change, with allrounder David Wiese replacing batsman Rilee Rossouw.
The weather forecast is not entirely promising, with thunderstorms anticipated late in the afternoon, so Duckworth-Lewis-Stern could well come into play.
South Africa 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 AB de Villiers (capt), 5 JP Duminy, 6 Farhaan Behardien, 7 David Wiese, 8 Kagiso Rabada, 9 Kyle Abbott, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Imran Tahir
England 1 Jason Roy, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 David Willey, 11 Reece Topley
George Dobell is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo