WTC final: South Africa win toss, opt to bowl against Australia

South Africa won the toss and chose to bowl first against defending champion Australia at Lord's in the World Test Championship final on Wednesday.

Cloud cover decided the call.

“Massive (occasion),” South Africa captain Temba Bavuma said. ”You can hear the South African accents as well in the stands. Should be a spectacle.”

Unlike South Africa, Australia didn't have a warmup game, but captain Pat Cummins said they were ready.

“Preparation has been unreal. All the guys in the team are ready to go,” Cummins said.

“We have had about 10 days of preparation. I don't think there's any extra pressure. We've been here before and won it. So it's just about going out and enjoying it.” The teams were named on Tuesday.

Australia has gone with a new top order by pushing up Marnus Labuschagne to open in a test for the first time, and placing Cameron Green at No. 3 for his first test in 15 months. Josh Hazlewood has displaced Scott Boland in the pace attack.

South Africa brought back Lungi Ngidi as the third seamer in the only change to the team from its last test in January in Cape Town, a four-day win over Pakistan.

Lineups:

South Africa: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma (captain), Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi

Australia: Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (captain), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood