South Africa won the toss and chose to bat first versus England
South Africa won the toss and chose to bat first on a warm day at Headingley, as both teams named unchanged XIs in their quest for an outright series win, with the contest locked at one game apiece.
“It looks a bit dry, so we’ll try to utilise the conditions in the second innings,” Maharaj said at the toss. “As a batting unit we’ve done reasonably well, so we’ll make sure we follow our processes and play to our rhythm.”
England have also kept faith in the line-up that hasn’t quite found its best form this summer, but has the chance to end their ODI campaign on a high nonetheless. Phil Salt will get another chance to bat at No.3, following Ben Stokes’ ODI retirement, while Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone – whose cameos at Old Trafford proved so crucial – will once again fill out the middle-order alongside Moeen Ali.
“We’ve been striving for that more complete performance,” Buttler added. “It’s been a strength for us, so there are guys who want to put their hands up, impose ourselves on the game and the opposition.”
England 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jonny Bairstow, 3 Phil Salt, 4 Joe Root, 5 Moeen Ali, 6 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 7 Liam Livingstone, 8 Sam Curran, 9 David Willey, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Reece Topley.
South Africa 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Janneman Malan, 3 Rassie van der Dussen, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Heinrich Klaasen, 6 David Miller, 7 Dwaine Pretorius, 8 Keshav Maharaj (capt), 9 Anrich Nortje, 10 Lungi Ngidi, 11 Tabraiz Shamsi.