Proteas captain Elgar wins toss, opts to bat in second Test in Gqeberha

South Africa won the toss and decided to bat in the second Test against Bangladesh at St George’s Park on Friday.

“The wicket looks a bit dry and it ties in with our team concept of playing two spinners,” said South African captain Dean Elgar.

“Hopefully we can start well and make a bit of an impact.”

South Africa named an unchanged team after winning the first Test in Durban by 220 runs.

Elgar said he wanted consistency in selection and had set an objective for his team “to try and get a few more hundreds”.

Bangladesh made two changes.

Opening batsman Tamim Iqbal returned in place of Shadman Islam after recovering from illness, while left-arm spinner Taijul Islam replaced injured fast bowler Taskin Ahmed.

Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque said he would also have chosen to bat.

“We have to try and come back,” he said.

“We played four days very well (in Durban), we have to play well for five days.”

Teams:

South Africa: Dean Elgar (capt), Sarel Erwee, Keegan Petersen, Temba Bavuma, Ryan Rickelton, Kyle Verreynne (wkt), Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Simon Harmer, Lizaad Williams, Duanne Olivier.

Bangladesh: Mominul Haque (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudul Hasan, Najmul Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das (wkt), Yasir Ali, Mehidy Hasan, Taijul Islam, Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain.

Umpires: Marais Erasmus, Allahudien Paleker (both RSA).

TV umpire: Adrian Holdstock (RSA).

Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM).