4th Test: South Africa win toss, opt to bat
Morne Morkel
Tim Paine became Australia's 46th Test captain
South Africa captain Faf du Plessis on Friday won the toss and elected to bat in the 4th and final test against tainted Australia at the New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg.
Th Proteas entered the ground with the same playing eleven as in the previous match, which witnessed many ups and downs, including the infamous ball-tampering scandal.
"We're looking to have a bat. It looks a little different to normal. A few cracks have started to appear and perhaps by the fourth day it should open up. It does definitely look browner and normally we do not even think of playing a spinner here. We've been extremely pumped ever since we lost the first Test and are aware that Australia will come back hard. No changes, we're playing the same eleven."
The match will be Morne Morkel‘s final Test of his cricketing career. Morkel had announced prior to the series that this would be his last as he wishes to focus on his family.
For Australia, Joe Burns and Matt Renshaw, opening for Queensland in the Sheffield Shield final earlier this week, replaced David Warner and Cameron Bancroft.
And Peter Handscomb was included in Steven Smith's No. 4 position.
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Tim Paine became Australia's 46th Test captain after Smith stepped down for the position.
In addition, fast bowler Chadd Sayers was given a debut in Australia's only unforced change of the Test, in place of Mitchell Starc, who has tibial bone stress in his right leg.
Cricket Australia (CA) slapped former skipper Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner with one year-ban each for tampering with the ball in the third Test.
South Africa: 1 Dean Elgar, 2 Aiden Markram, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Faf du Plessis (capt), 6 Temba Bavuma, 7 Quinton de Kock (wk), 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Morne Morkel
Australia: 1 Joe Burns, 2 Matt Renshaw, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Peter Handscomb, 5 Shaun Marsh, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Tim Paine (capt, wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Chadd Sayers, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh Hazlewood