MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM: South Africa captain Dean Elgar won the toss and elected to bat against England in the second Test at Old Trafford on Thursday as the Proteas recalled off-spinner Simon Harmer.
Harmer, a stalwart wicket-taker with English county side Essex, returned in place of towering left-arm quick Marco Jansen in the only change to the XI that overwhelmed England by an innings and 12-runs in the first Test at Lord’s last week.
The pitch at Old Trafford should offer more assistance to spinners as the game goes on, with Harmer joining an attack that already features slow left-armer Keshav Maharaj.
Although Thursday’s overcast conditions promised to aid fast bowlers, history was on Elgar’s side — no team has ever won the toss in a Test at Old Trafford, chosen to bowl and gone on to win the match.
England had already recalled Ollie Robinson on Wednesday in the only change to their side at Lord’s. The Sussex seamer replaced fellow paceman Matthew Potts.
Victory in Manchester would put South Africa 2-0 up in a three-match contest and give them their first series win over England since 2012.
But South Africa have only won one of their nine Tests at Old Trafford, back in 1955, when three of their batsmen scored centuries and Peter Heine took eight wickets in the match.
Teams:
England: Zak Crawley, Alex Lees, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (capt), Ben Foakes (wkt), Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, Ollie Robinson, James Anderson.
South Africa: Dean Elgar (capt), Sarel Erwee, Keegan Petersen, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne (wkt), Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi
Umpires: Chris Gaffaney (NZL), Richard Illingworth (ENG)
TV umpire: Nitin Menon (IND)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI).
