Toss South Africa chose to bowl v Australia
After his team’s struggles with defending totals in the series against England, Quinton de Kock decided South Africa would chase in their opener against Australia. Aaron Finch would have done the same and was expecting a hostile reception from a yet-to-be-filled Wanderers crowd.
The Bullring is under capacity for this match after the Open East Stand had to be closed after heavy downpours in the last few days left it unsafe for spectator occupation. Fans who bought tickets for that area are being relocated but the venue will not be accommodating its usual 34,000.
There are still big numbers expected to see Kagiso Rabada and Faf du Plessis come back into the white-ball team after both were rested for the England matches and Pite van Biljon, the Knights middle-order batsman, make his debut. South Africa also brought Jon-Jon Smuts into the XI, having not been originally on the team sheet, after Heinrich Klaasen was injured in the warm-ups. Rassie van der Dussen will open in the absence of another injury victim, Temba Bavuma.
Australia started the series with their full-strength squad, bar Glenn Maxwell, who was injured ahead of this tour. They stuck with including two spinners in their team, in Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa, despite the Wanderers being a fast-bowlers’ surface and with high humidity expected to aid swing.
South Africa: 1 Quinton de Kock (capt, wk), 2 Rassie van der Dussen, 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 Jon-Jon Smuts, 5 David Miller, 6 Pite van Biljon, 7 Andile Phehlukwayo, 8 Kagiso Rabada, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Tabraiz Shamsi, 11 Lungi Ngidi
Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Aaron Finch (capt), 3 Steven Smith, 4 Matt Wade, 5 Mitchell Marsh, 6 Alex Carey (wk), 7 Ashton Agar, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Kane Richardson
Source: ESPN Crickinfo