SA vs ENG – Preview

This is the 2nd match in the 4-match test series between South Africa and England.

The Proteas have taken a 1-0 lead in the series and England would surely wanna make a comeback in the match on Saturday, 3rd Jan’20.

England have a 19-player squad which makes it difficult to predict whether there would be any kinds of changes in the playing XI or whether they go with the same XI for another match knowing that it’s their best possible XI to play with.

South Africa have gone on a winning note against the team who had a dream cricket run in 2019!

Stats –

Quinton De Kock and Joe Root are the only two players from these two teams to feature in the Top 10 Batsmen of the ICC Test Rankings.

Kagiso Rabada is the No.3 All Rounder in the ICC Test Rankings.

In terms of the bowlers, Vernon Philander and Chris Woakes feature in the Top 10 of the same.

Probable XIs –

SA – Elgar, Malan, Du Plessis(C), Hamza, Dussen, De Kock(Wk), Pretorius, Philander, Maharaja, Nortje, Rabada

Eng – Burns, Pope, Denly, Root (C), Bairstow, Buttler (Wk), Stokes, Curran, Archer, Broad, Woakes

Possible Replacements –

SA – Peter Malan in place of Aiden Markram who’s injured and ruled out. They would otherwise prefer to stick with the winning combination. But, there is a possibility of Andile Phehlukwayo coming into the XI in place of Anrich Nortje.

Eng – Ollie Pope and Chris Woakes in place of Dominic Sibley and James Anderson are possible replacements even though they can stick with the same XI and try to get back on the winning momentum with the XI they played the first match with.