South Africa won the toss and chose to bowl first vs England
South Africa welcomed Rilee Rossouw back into their side, nearly six years after his most recent international appearance. They left Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Dwaine Pretorius and Anrich Nortje out of their side, with 21-year-old Tristan Stubbs handed a third cap in the middle order.
Andile Phehlukwayo was cleared to return after suffering a concussion in the first ODI last week and forms part of a five-man attack, along with the returning Kagiso Rabada (who was rested for the ODI series), Lungi Ngidi, and spinners Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi.
“We don’t know what it’s going to play like,” Miller said. “Hopefully we’ll use the conditions well. There’s going to be a lot going on but I’m ready. We’ve prepared really well so we’re looking forward to it.”
Jonny Bairstow and Adil Rashid returned to the England XI after missing the series against India, with Bairstow carded to bat at No. 4 as he has in T20Is over the last 18 months. “They are two very important players for us so great to have them back in the mix,” Buttler said.
England opted to pick an extra allrounder, leaving both Phil Salt and Harry Brook to run the drinks. They have four seamers in the side in Reece Topley, Richard Gleeson, Chris Jordan and Sam Curran, plus three spinners in Rashid, Liam Livingstone and Moeen Ali.
“We would have bowled as well,” Buttler added. “There’s a clear path to the World Cup for us now. We see this as the start of our lead-in proper so we want to start with a good game today.”
England: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jos Buttler (capt/wk), 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Jonny Bairstow, 5 Moeen Ali, 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Reece Topley, 11 Richard Gleeson
South Africa: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Reeza Hendricks, 3 Rilee Rossouw, 4 Heinrich Klaasen, 5 David Miller (capt), 6 Tristan Stubbs, 7 Andile Phehlukwayo, 8 Kagiso Rabada, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Lungi Ngidi, 11 Tabraiz Shamsi