Bavuma wins toss and says Proteas will bowl in WTC final at Lord’s

South Africa won the toss and chose to bowl under cloudy skies on Wednesday in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia.

Proteas captain Temba Bavuma said though the pitch looked good, "the overhead conditions dictate we bowl first".

"We have selected the best combination for the conditions," he said.

Australian counterpart Pat Cummins said he was happy to bat.

"It looks a good wicket — it looks dry and might take turn later," Cummins said.

The first session will certainly be difficult for the Australians, given the conditions and fact that they have picked Marnus Labuschagne to open in a Test for the first time.

SA have a strong bowling line-up led by Kagiso Rabada that includes Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder — who will also bat at No 3 — and left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj.

Australia are the defending champions, having claimed the second edition of the WTC at the Oval two years ago.

The two XIs were announced on Wednesday.

Teams

SA: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma (capt), Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi.

Australia: Marnus Labuschagne, Usman Khawaja, Cameron Green, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Alex Carey, Beau Webster, Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.