Toss South Africa chose to bowl v England
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Jos Buttler stepped in as England captain after Eoin Morgan rested himself © Getty Images
Eoin Morgan has left himself out of the final game of the T20 series against South Africa in Cardiff. Morgan, who is fully fit, was replaced as captain by Jos Buttler, while Dawid Malan is the latest man to make his England debut.
It was a surprising move in a game that will decide the series, with the teams level at 1-1. AB de Villiers won the toss and chose to bowl.
Mason Crane also returned to the England side, though there was no place for Craig Overton. Malan, British born but rained in South Africa, follows Crane, Liam Livingstone and Tom Curran in making his debut in this series.
With Alex Hales returning to the side, Sam Billings drops down the order to No. 5 while Liam Plunkett will bat as high as No. 7. Liam Dawson also misses out.
Jonny Bairstow, who has arguably looked England’s best batsman in the series to date, has left the squad to prepare for the round of pink-ball, day-night games starting on Monday
South Africa, meanwhile, have brought back Imran Tahir for Tabraiz Shamsi. They opted to bowl first on a surprisingly green-looking surface. There was some rain in Cardiff during the morning and the weather remains overcast, but the forecast is reasonably good.
England: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Jos Buttler (capt/wk), 5 Sam Billings 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Liam Plunkett, 8 David Willey, 9 Chris Jordan, 10 Tom Curran 11 Mason Crane
South Africa: 1 JJ Smuts, 2 Reeza Hendricks, 3 AB de Villiers (capt), 4 David Miller, 5 Farhaan Berhardien, 6 Mangaliso Mosehle (wk), 7 Chris Morris, 8 Andile Phehlukwayo, 9 Morne Morkel, 10 Dane Paterson, 11 Imran Tahir
George Dobell is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo