LONDON, Sept 8, 2022 (AFP) - England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and
elected to field in the third and deciding Test against South Africa at The
Oval on Thursday.

Overnight rain delayed the scheduled toss by 30 minutes, with the overcast
conditions promising to assist England's quicks.

But soon after the toss had taken place there was a heavy downpour in London
and the covers were brought on.

England had already named their side on Wednesday, giving a debut to Harry
Brook after in-form batsman Jonny Bairstow was ruled out with a freak leg
injury suffered playing golf.

The inclusion of Brook, who has scored 967 runs for Yorkshire in the County
Championship this season at an average of 107, was the only change for
England.

The home side hammered South Africa by an innings and 85 runs in the second
Test at Old Trafford last month to level the three-match series at 1-1.

The Proteas, who won the first Test at Lord's by an innings and 12 runs,
responded to their heavy defeat in Manchester by making four changes, two of
them enforced.

It had already been confirmed that Ryan Rickelton would replace Rassie van
der Dussen after the batsman was ruled out with a broken finger.
South Africa captain Dean Elgar said at the toss that paceman Lungi Ngidi had
been sidelined by a hamstring niggle, with Wiaan Mulder coming in to the
side.

Khaya Zondo was recalled in place of struggling batsman Aiden Markram and
left-arm quick Marco Jansen returned after the Proteas decided against
retaining second spinner Simon Harmer.

Victory would take South Africa back to the top of the World Test
Championship table.

A win for England would give them a sparkling record of six wins in seven
Tests under their new leadership pairing of Stokes and coach Brendon
McCullum.
Teams
England: Zak Crawley, Alex Lees, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben
Stokes (capt), Ben Foakes (wkt), Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, Ollie Robinson,
James Anderson

South Africa: Dean Elgar (capt), Sarel Erwee, Keegan Petersen, Ryan
Rickelton, Khaya Zondo, Kyle Verreynne (wkt), Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen,
Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje
Umpires: Nitin Menon (IND), Richard Kettleborough (ENG)
TV umpire: Chris Gaffaney (NZL)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)