South Africa captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bowl first against Sri Lanka in Match 35 of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 at Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street on Friday.
Having lost five of their seven matches, South Africa are already out of the semi-final contention but Sri Lanka need to win this contest to keep their last-four hopes alive.
South Africa have made two changes to their Playing XIs, dropping Lungi Ngidi and David Miller and replacing them with Dwaine Pretorius and allrounder JP Duminy. Sri Lanka have made one change – Suranga Lakmal replaces Nuwan Pradeep.
“It’s fresh pitch, hoping to get some seam movement, doesn’t spin too much in the second innings. We are playing an extra batsman today and hopefully that allows our batters to bat more freely,” Du Plessis said at the toss.
Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne said, “We just want to win this match and see how the next two games unfold.”
Playing XIs
South Africa: Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (wk), Faf du Plessis (captain), Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Jean-Paul Duminy, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir
Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (captain), Kusal Perera (wk), Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Thisara Perera, Jeevan Mendis, Isuru Udana, Lasith Malinga, Suranga Lakmal
