Proteas captain Dean Elgar won the toss again, and chose to bat in the second Test at Old Trafford on Thursday.
South Africa made one change to the side that won the first Test at Lord’s last week, bringing off-spinner Simon Harmer into the starting line-up with Marco Jansen, dropped.
Elgar said Jansen “did nothing wrong,” and that the change was purely tactical. Although conditions were overcast in Manchester, Elgar, given the make up of the team, had little option but to bat first.
Harmer played both Tests against Bangladesh earlier this year, making a return to the international arena after six and a half years. He and keshav Maharaj dominated in that series, with Harmer finishing with 13 wickets.
England made just the one change to the side that lost at Lord’s with fast bowler Ollie Robinson replacing Matthew Potts. Skipper Ben Stokes said he was very happy to bowl and would have done so had the toss gone his way.
Teams:
South Africa: Dean Elgar (capt), Sarel Erwee, Keegan Petersen, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada. Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Simon Harmer
England: Zak Crawley, Alex Lees, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (capt), Ben Foakes, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, Ollie Robinson, James Anderson.
IOL Sport