SA vs Eng, 2nd Test: England opt to bat in Cape Town

England's batsman Joe Root celebrates his double century (200 runs) on day four of the second cricket Test match between England and New Zealand at Seddon Park in Hamilton on December 2, 2019. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)


England skipper Joe Root on Friday won the toss and opted to bat in the second Test match of the four-match series against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town.

Notably, South Africa won the first match by 107 runs in Centurion.

“We are gonna bat first. Looks a good surface, hopefully, we can exploit that and get a good first inning score. Hopefully, we get back into the series,” said Root after winning the toss.

“I would have (batted). There’s something in it in the first session. It’s a nice opportunity for us to get 3-4 wickets in the first session,” Plessis said, adding, “We have only won one Test match, we’ve got three more Tests against a quality team. It’s just a start of a journey for us. We have to play well and especially start well.”

Here are the Playing XIs of both the teams:

England: Dominic Sibley, Zak Crawley, Joe Denly, Joe Root (captain), Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Sam Curran, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, James Anderson

South Africa: Pieter Malan, Dean Elgar, Zubayr Hamza, Faf du Plessis (captain), Rassie van der Dussen, Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Dwaine Pretorius, Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje