Toss: Sri Lanka chose to bowl v South Africa
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South Africa picked Morne Morkel as one of their four seamers, and left out Andile Phehlukwayo © Getty Images
Upul Tharanga, Sri Lanka’s stand-in captain, opted to bowl against South Africa under cloudy skies at the Oval. Tharanga – leading in place of the injured Angelo Mathews – hoped there would be some swing in the air, and also expected conditions to get better for batting through the game. South Africa captain AB de Villiers said he would also have chosen to bowl first.
Lasith Malinga returned to Sri Lanka’s ODI XI following a 19-month hiatus. Also in Sri Lanka’s attack were Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal and Seekkuge Prasanna, left-arm wristspinner Lakshan Sandakan and seam bowler Nuwan Kulasekara having been left out. On the batting front, Kusal Perera, Chamara Kapugedara and Asela Gunaratne made up the lower middle order, with Thisara Perera omitted.
South Africa, meanwhile, found room for Morne Morkel in the XI, leaving out Andile Phehlukwayo. They went with their expected top order. Legspinner Imran Tahir made his way back into the side after missing two matches against England with a hamstring niggle.
Skies are expected to remain cloudy, but there is no forecast for rain for the duration of the match.
South Africa: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 AB de Villiers (capt), 5 JP Duminy, 6 David Miller, 7 Chris Morris, 8 Wayne Parnell, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Imran Tahir.
Sri Lanka: 1 Upul Tharanga (capt), 2 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Dinesh Chandimal, 5 Kusal Perera, 6 Chamara Kapugedara, 7 Asela Gunaratne, 8 Seekkuge Prasanna, 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Nuwan Pradeep.
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo’s Sri Lanka correspondent. @andrewffernando
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo