South Africa wins toss, bowls as it tries to level ODI series vs. NZ

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

KIMBERLEY, South Africa — South Africa stand-in captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bowl first against New Zealand in the second one-day international at De Beers Diamond Oval on Tuesday.

Du Plessis replaced the suspended AB de Villiers as captain for the host, which lost the series-opener by one wicket over the weekend and was also missing injured batsman Hashim Amla for the second game.

New Zealand picked middle-order batsman Colin Munro for his ODI debut in place of Rob Nichol and promoted wicketkeeper BJ Watling to the top of its batting order.

A series victory in South Africa would give the New Zealanders a major boost ahead of their return home, having slumped to successive innings defeats in the test series. The Black Caps lifted themselves from 105-7 for a fighting win in the opening ODI.

De Villiers was suspended for the remainder of the series for South Africa’s slow over rate in the first game, while Amla strained his right thigh muscle and wasn’t risked with South Africa’s test series against Pakistan just over a week away.

Farhaan Behardien came in for his one-day debut in place of Amla. The Proteas also promoted young wicketkeeper batsman Quinton de Kock to opener and brought in Morne Morkel for fellow fast bowler Dale Steyn. David Miller was in for De Villiers.

Both captains wanted to bowl first on a hard and true Kimberley pitch which was expected to be very good for batting and produce plenty of runs.

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Lineups:

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (captain), Graeme Smith, Quinton de Kock, Colin Ingram, Farhaan Behardien, Ryan McLaren, David Miller, Robin Peterson, Rory Kleinveldt, Morne Morkel, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

New Zealand: Brendon McCullum (captain), BJ Watling, Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson, James Franklin, Nathan McCullum, Grant Elliott, Jimmy Neesham, Kyle Mills, Mitchell McClenaghan.

07:43ET 22-01-13