South Africa vs Australia 2014, 3rd Test: Australia bat; Marsh, Siddle and de Kock dropped

Australia chose to bat

Australia’s captain Michael Clarke won the toss and elected to bat first on a dry surface at Cape Town. Having lost the second Test at St. George’s Park, Australia will be desperate to bounce back and win the series.

They have made couple of changes to the side. Shaun Marsh and Peter Siddle were left out of the squad due to poor form in the second Test. They brought Shane Watson to strengthen the top order and a pacer – James Pattinson to bolster the bowling attack.

On the other hand South Africa have also made couple of changes. Alviro Petersen returns to the squad at the expense of Quinton de Kock, which means Dean Elgar will be batting at No.3. Also Kyle Abbott was brought into the squad in place of injured Wayne Parnell.

Graeme Smith was disappointed in losing the toss, but felt that there would be something for the fast bowlers in the first hour and hopefully their bowlers exploit it.

South Africa 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Alviro Petersen, 3Dean Elgar, 4 Hashim Amla, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 Faf du Plessis, 7 JP Duminy, 8 Veron Philander, 9 Kyle Abbott, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Morne Morkel.

Australia 1 Chris Rogers, 2 David Warner, 3 Alex Doolan, 4 Michael Clarke (capt), 5 Steven Smith, 6 Shane Watson, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Ryan Harris, 10 James Pattinson, 11 Nathan Lyon.