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South Africa win the toss and bat against England
Dale Steyn is back in the one-day side after a couple of matches on the sidelines © Getty Images
It shows how well things are going when a team is winning and then can bring back Dale Steyn. That is the situation for South Africa at The Oval as their pace spearhead comes back in as they aim to consolidate their 1-0 series lead earned by an 80-run victory earlier in the week which gave them the No.1 ranking in all three formats.
Steyn replaced Ryan McLaren as AB de Villiers won the toss and opted for the same route as in Southampton, batting first and applying scoreboard pressure on another surface expected to aid the spinners. Hashim Amla was confirmed as having recovered from the back tweak he suffered in the outfield after his 150 on Tuesday.
England are the team with all the problems. Alastair Cook played down talk of a new era after being handed the Test captaincy following Andrew Strauss' retirement and was not looking further ahead than trying to level this series.
The hosts have made two changes with James Tredwell replacing the rested Graeme Swann - whose elbow is causing increasing concern - while Jade Dernbach, on his home ground, replaces Tim Bresnan who has been below par for much of the season.
Dernbach has been preferred ahead of Chris Woakes who is still waiting for a chance having been left out after the washout in Cardiff. Cook said the attack needed "freshening up" although it does leave England with quite a lengthy tail. Still, it is down to the top order to do their job and not leave run-scoring to the bowlers. There is was still no place for the in-from Jonny Bairstow with faith shown in Ravi Bopara.
England 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Ian Bell, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Ravi Bopara, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 7 Samit Patel, 8 James Tredwell, 9 James Anderson, 10 Steven Finn, 11 Jade Dernbach
South Africa 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Hashim Amla, 3 JP Duminy, 4 Dean Elgar, 5 AB de Villiers (capt & wk), 6 Faf du Plessis, 7 Wayne Parnell, 8 Robin Peterson, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe
Dale Steyn is back in the one-day side after a couple of matches on the sidelines © Getty Images
It shows how well things are going when a team is winning and then can bring back Dale Steyn. That is the situation for South Africa at The Oval as their pace spearhead comes back in as they aim to consolidate their 1-0 series lead earned by an 80-run victory earlier in the week which gave them the No.1 ranking in all three formats.
Steyn replaced Ryan McLaren as AB de Villiers won the toss and opted for the same route as in Southampton, batting first and applying scoreboard pressure on another surface expected to aid the spinners. Hashim Amla was confirmed as having recovered from the back tweak he suffered in the outfield after his 150 on Tuesday.
England are the team with all the problems. Alastair Cook played down talk of a new era after being handed the Test captaincy following Andrew Strauss' retirement and was not looking further ahead than trying to level this series.
The hosts have made two changes with James Tredwell replacing the rested Graeme Swann - whose elbow is causing increasing concern - while Jade Dernbach, on his home ground, replaces Tim Bresnan who has been below par for much of the season.
Dernbach has been preferred ahead of Chris Woakes who is still waiting for a chance having been left out after the washout in Cardiff. Cook said the attack needed "freshening up" although it does leave England with quite a lengthy tail. Still, it is down to the top order to do their job and not leave run-scoring to the bowlers. There is was still no place for the in-from Jonny Bairstow with faith shown in Ravi Bopara.
England 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Ian Bell, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Ravi Bopara, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 7 Samit Patel, 8 James Tredwell, 9 James Anderson, 10 Steven Finn, 11 Jade Dernbach
South Africa 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Hashim Amla, 3 JP Duminy, 4 Dean Elgar, 5 AB de Villiers (capt & wk), 6 Faf du Plessis, 7 Wayne Parnell, 8 Robin Peterson, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe