Proteas lose toss, bowl at Old Trafford

Cape Town - The Proteas have made two forced changes for the fourth Test against England starting at Old Trafford in Manchester on Friday.  

Theunis de Bruyn and Duanne Olivier have been selected in place of Vernon Philander and Chris Morris, who have both been ruled out due to lower back strains.  

Proteas team manager, Dr Mohammed Moosajee commented on the injuries: “Vernon and Chris have been struggling with injuries to their left lower backs this week. 

They didn’t come through their respective fitness assessments successfully and will unfortunately not be able to take part in this Test match.”

Faf du Plessis lost the toss and was asked to bowl in overcast conditions, with the forecast set to remain the same over the next five days. 

Philander and Andile Phehlukwayo will return back to South Africa this weekend. Ernest Kemm, Brady Barends and Francois Hassbroek will assist with 12th man duties throughout the match.  

England lead the series 2-1 with one match remaining in the series.

Teams:

England

Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Tom Westley, Joe Root (captain), Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow (wkt), Moeen Ali, Toby Roland-Jones, Stuart Broad, James Anderson

South Africa

Dean Elgar, Heino Kuhn, Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (wkt), Faf du Plessis (captain), Temba Bavuma, Theunis de Bruyn, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Duanne Olivier, Morne Morkel

Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK), Kumar Dharmasena (SRI)

TV umpire: Joel Wilson (WIS)

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)