MUMBAI (Reuters) – England captain Jos Buttler won the toss and elected to bowl first in their Cricket World Cup pool clash against South Africa at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday, as Ben Stokes returns from a hip injury to bolster the side.
England have also brought in seamers David Willey and Gus Atkinson on what looks a good batting track at a venue that will be used for the first time in the competition.
“We want to impose ourselves on this game, it is usually a good ground to chase on so we will bowl first,” Buttler said.
South Africa are without captain Temba Bavuma, who is ill, with the side to be led by their Twenty20 International skipper Aiden Markram. Reeza Hendricks will replace Bavuma at the top of the order.
“It looks a good batting wicket, so hopefully we can apply ourselves today and set up a good total. If we operate at the right standards, we think we can get the right result,” Markram said.
Both sides are looking to bounce back from surprise defeats – England lost by 69 runs in their previous encounter against Afghanistan, while South Africa were beaten by 38 runs versus the Netherlands.
Teams:
England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (capt.), David Willey, Adil Rashid, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, Reece Topley
South Africa: Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram (capt.), Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi
(Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
