South Africa won the toss and decided to bowl against Australia
South Africa’s captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and sent Australia in to bat in the first ODI of their three-match series at Perth Stadium.
Plenty of grass on the surface led both sides to favour pace in their bowling lineups, with the hosts selecting all four of Mitchell Starc, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. The spin bowlers Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar were duly omitted.
Shaun Marsh could not be considered due to requiring surgery for an abscess on his buttocks, with D’Arcy Short coming into the line-up and batting at No. 3. The loss of Marsh is a significant blow as he was Australia’s leading batsman in their previous series, a 5-0 loss to England in the UK in mid-year.
South Africa included Henrich Klaasen and Andile Phehlukwayo in their top seven, while Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada will share the new ball.
The match is Australia’s first on home turf since last season’s Newlands ball tampering scandal, resulting in bans for David Warner, Steven Smith and Cameron Bancroft.
Australia 1 Aaron Finch (capt), 2 Travis Head, 3 D’Arcy Short, 4 Chris Lynn, 5 Alex Carey (wk) 6, Glenn Maxwell, 7 Marcus Stoinis, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Nathan Coulter-Nile, 10 Pat Cummins, 11 Josh Hazlewood
South Africa 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Aiden Markram, 3 Reeza Hendricks, 4 Faf du Plessis (capt), 5 Heinrich Klaasen, 6 David Miller, 7 Andile Phehlukwayo, 8 Dale Steyn, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Lungi Ngidi, 11 Imran Tahir
Source: ESPN Crickinfo