Bavuma wins toss, Proteas bat first at St George’s Park

Proteas captain Temba Bavuma will look to capitalise on what he believes are ideal batting conditions in Gqeberha after winning the toss and electing to bat first in the second Test against Sri Lanka on Thursday.

Speaking at the coin toss, Bavuma said a lot of discussion had gone into that decision and they felt it was the right one to take given their assessment of conditions.

The Proteas come into the match with two forced changes in Ryan Rickelton and Dane Paterson, who replace the injured Wiaan Mulder and Gerald Coetzee.

“It looks like a typical Gqeberha wicket, [there's a] little bit of grass on it,” Bavuma said.

 “We would like to start off with the bat, put some runs on the board and play it from there.

“We didn't want to compromise on our batting and ability to score big runs, hence [the selection of] Ryan Rickelton. And Dane Paterson — these conditions might suit his type of bowling.”

Sri Lanka are unchanged for the second encounter, skipper Dhananjaya de Silva said.

The Sri Lankan captain was not too displeased by losing the toss, saying he would have bowled first had he won it.

Teams

Proteas: Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, Temba Bavuma (c), David Bedingham, Ryan Rickelton, Kyle Verreynne, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Dane Paterson

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Kusal Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Lahiru Kumara, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando