England travel to Cardiff for the third game in the NatWest Series without some big-name stars, while the visiting side is missing Faf du Plessis but has added a lot of muscle elsewhere.
South Africa kicks off the second leg of its tour of England on Wednesday with the first Twenty20 International at Rose Bowl in Southampton as both teams look to put behind below-par ICC Champions Trophy 2017 campaigns. England, the home side, was touted as the favourite but lost to Pakistan, the eventual champion, in the semi-final, while South Africa, the No. 1 side in the world, couldn’t get out of its group.
England, which won the three-match One-Day International series played prior to the start of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 2-1, has left out five of its regulars – Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jake Ball, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid – while Chris Woakes is out with the injury that cut short his Champions Trophy. Instead, England has brought in a bunch of fresh faces, players who have been on the periphery of national selection for a while now: Dawid Malan, the hard-hitting left-hand batsman, Liam Livingstone, the right-hand batsman and part-time leg-spinner, Mason Crane, the leg-spinner, and Tom Curran and Craig Overton, the right-arm pacers.
All of them have big reputations preceding them, and going by the performances of players like Malan and Curran, especially, in the domestic circuit and for England Lions, England has most bases covered even if the skills and experience of Stokes & Co will be tough to replace.
Theunis de Bruyn, Heino Kuhn and Lungi Ngidi have been left out, and muscle has been added in the form of Chris Morris, Dwaine Pretorius, Morne Morkel and Tabraiz Shamsi. Theunis de Bruyn, Heino Kuhn and Lungi Ngidi have been left out, and muscle has been added in the form of Chris Morris, Dwaine Pretorius, Morne Morkel and Tabraiz Shamsi.
South Africa has also made some changes. There’s a swap at the top, with Faf du Plessis back home for the birth of his first child and AB de Villiers, the regular ODI captain, taking charge. Du Plessis, incidentally, had missed South Africa’s last T20I engagements, against Sri Lanka at home earlier this year, when the selectors decided to rest some of the senior pros. From the squad that lost that series 2-1, Theunis de Bruyn, Heino Kuhn and Lungi Ngidi have been left out, and muscle has been added in the form of Chris Morris, Dwaine Pretorius, Morne Morkel and Tabraiz Shamsi.
The last time the two teams met in a T20I was back during the ICC World Twenty20 2016, when England chased down South Africa’s 229 for 4 with two balls in hand to win the Super 10 Group 1 game in Mumbai. A lot has changed since then for both sides, but England is still the better team going by the ICC rankings – at No. 3 to South Africa’s No. 6 – and recent form in English conditions.
But with players like Morris around and Morkel back to peak match fitness and looking impressive in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, South Africa will back itself to upset the English applecart and keep its positive head-to-head record against the opponent intact prior to the four-Test series that follows.
After the Rose Bowl fixture, the series moves to Taunton (June 23) and then Cardiff (June 25), with tickets available to purchase at Cardiff HERE.
Teams (from)
England: Eoin Morgan (capr), Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler (wk), Mason Crane, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Jason Roy, Craig Overton, Liam Plunkett, David Willey, Mark Wood.
South Africa: AB de Villiers (capt), Farhaan Behardien, Reeza Hendricks, David Miller, Mangaliso Mosehle (wk), Chris Morris, Dane Paterson, Tabraiz Shamsi, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Imran Tahir, Dwaine Pretorius, Morne Morkel, JJ Smuts.