The Proteas have made three changes to the side that lost the first Test, as they bat first against England at Trent Bridge.
Kagiso Rabada is suspended and coach Russell Domingo is still at home, but the skipper is back, and he’s brought Duanne Olivier and Chris Morris into the side with him, as the Proteas look to win at Trent Bridge for the first time since 1965.
After their heavy 211-run defeat at Lord’s last week, a lot of questions needed to be asked in order to get back into this series. The first thing Du Plessis did was drop JP Duminy on Thursday, whose barren run in the longest format seems to have come to an end for good. The decision to include Olivier followed swiftly, and Morris was announced at the toss, meaning there’s no room for Theunis de Bruyn.
The pitch and overhead conditions suggested it was a good toss to lose, as a there’s a bit of grass on the wicket, but heavy cloud cover is expected. Du Plessis had no hesitation choosing to bat, but Joe Root said he would’ve bowled first.
‘A little bit of a tricky one, the wicket will get worse as the game goes on. The first hour will be a challenge, but we back ourselves to get past that,’ said Du Plessis.
‘It’s a big blow [losing Rabada], that’s why we’ve got an extra seamer,’ he continued.
England have kept an unchanged side, as they look to extend a record at Nottingham that has seen them unbeaten there since 2007. The last time Stuart Broad played here he took 8-15 in the 2015 Ashes, so all eyes are on him to see if he can put in a similar performance.
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England: 1. Alastair Cook 2. Keaton Jennings 3. Gary Ballance 4. Joe Root 5. Jonny Bairstow 6. Ben Stokes 7. Moeen Ali 8. Liam Dawson 9. Stuart Broad 10. Mark Wood 11. James Anderson
South Africa: 1. Dean Elgar 2. Heino Kuhn 3. Hashim Amla 4.Quinton de Kock 5. Faf du Plessis 6. Temba Bavuma 7. Vernon Philander 8 Chirs Morris. 9. Keshav Maharaj 10. Duanne Olivier 11. Morne Morkel
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Photo: Gareth Copley/Getty Images
