The Proteas won the toss and will bowl first against Bangladesh at the Oval, reports KHALID MOHIDIN.
The Proteas aim to bounce back after a heavy 104-run defeat against England at the Oval. Their opponents, Bangladesh, will look to kick start their World Cup campaign with a win in their first game.
The Proteas seemed to have misread conditions at the Oval when they bowled first against the hosts, but adjusted their plans and improved as the game went on. They will aim to use the knowledge they gained of the wicket in the opening fixture, to give them an edge against the Tigers.
The biggest talk surrounding the Proteas was their team selection. With Hashim Amla not fully healed from the blow to the grille, he received after a Jofra Archer bouncer on Thursday, the Proteas were forced into a change.
Amla will be replaced by Aiden Markram at the top of the order and in the starting XI by David Miller. With Dale Steyn still absent, the Proteas have also gone for extra pace with their selection of Chris Morris in place of Dwaine Pretorius.
Faf discussed his selection at the toss.
‘We’re playing the extra seamer today so we want to try and attack Bangladesh with some extra pace. We want to take the learnings from the previous game,’ said Du Plessis.
‘I thought he did really well to restrict a strong England batting line-up. Today we are playing a slightly different team.
‘Obviously, Hashim Amla got hit on the head so David Miller comes back in and then the other change is Chris Morris, we’re trying to get some extra pace with this wicket. There was a bit of extra bounce and we’re trying to make use of that.’
This is your Captain speaking.
Proteas HQ had a word with the Captain to hear what his thoughts were ahead of the Proteas second match of the World Cup.#ProteaFire#CWC19 pic.twitter.com/54ePTW1tTL
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) June 2, 2019
For Bangladesh, there were concerns over Tamim Iqbal’s fitness. He was cleared and will start.
Head-to-bead battles: SA vs BAN
Proteas XI:
1. Aiden Markram
2. Quinton de Kock
3. Faf du Plessis
4. Rassie van der Dussen
5. David Miller
6. JP Duminy
7. Andile Phehulkwayo
8. Chris Morris
9. Kagiso Rabada
10. Lungi Ngidi
11. Imran Tahir
Bangladesh XI:
1. Tamim Iqbal
2. Soumya Sarkar
3. Shakib Al Hasan
4. Mushfiqur Rahim (wk)
5. Mohammad Mithun
6. Mahmudullah
7. Mosaddek Hossain
8. Mohammad Saifuddin
9. Mehidy Hasan
10. Mashrafe Mortaza (capt)
11. Mustafizur Rahman
Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images
