Proteas bat as Morkel, Bavuma return

Cape Town - South Africa will bat first in the third Test against Australia at Newlands after winning the toss on Thursday.

The Proteas have made two changes to their starting line-up with Temba Bavuma returning from injury to replace Theunis de Bruyn while Morne Morkel comes in for Lungi Ngidi. 

Ngidi had been struggling with a toe injury in the build-up to the Test, and his exclusion hands Morkel a chance to become just the fifth South African to reach 300 Test wickets.

LIVE: SA v Australia - 3rd Test, Day 1

Morkel, currently on 297 Test wickets, has announced that he will retire from international cricket at the end of the series. 

Kagiso Rabada, as expected, is included after his successful appeal against a two-Test suspension.

Australia, meanwhile, go in with an unchanged line-up. 

It is a perfect day at Newlands without a cloud in the sky, and with the series tied at 1-1 it is sure to be an intriguing day of Test cricket. 

Play will start at 10:30.

Teams:

South Africa

Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis (captain), Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Morne Morkel

Australia

David Warner, Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith (captain), Shaun Marsh, Mitch Marsh, Tim Paine, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon

Umpires: Richard Illingworth, Nigel Llong (both ENG)

TV umpire: Ian Gould (ENG)

Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)

It's a perfect day at Newlands for the start of the 3rd Test between SA and Australia #Proteas #SAvAUS pic.twitter.com/nRPSwgriqs

— Sport24News (@Sport24news) March 22, 2018