LONDON: The return of Kagiso Rababa means England’s faltering batsmen head into Thursday’s third Test against South Africa here at The Oval knowing they will face an even stronger attack than the one that ran through them at Trent Bridge.

Despite the absence of fast bowler Rabada, banned as a result of swearing at England all-rounder Ben Stokes in the series opener at Lord’s, South Africa’s attack bowled them out for just 133 in their second innings.

That sealed a crushing 340-run win in the second Test at the Nottingham ground earlier this month, as they levelled the four-match campaign at 1-1.

Pacer Toby Roland-Jones to make debut for hosts

England will give a Test debut at number three to Essex batsman Tom Westley in their latest bid to take the pressure off captain Joe Root and former skipper Alastair Cook, a county colleague of the newcomer, at the top of their order.

The weakest link of a South Africa attack led by Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel at Trent Bridge was Duanne Olivier, but he will now give way to Rabada.

At the age of 22, Rabada has already taken 77 wickets in 18 Tests at an average of under 25.

Star batsman Hashim Amla added: “KG is a wonderful bowler. I’m sure he doesn’t want to get banned again... The way he does it is entirely up to him.”

Westley has been brought in after England number three Gary Ballance was ruled out with a finger injury, although the Yorkshire batsman’s lack of runs might well have seen him dropped.

Westley has been in good form for Essex so far this season, scoring 478 First Division runs in the County Championship, including two centuries, at an average of 53.11. Significantly, he also made 106 not out against a strong South Africa attack for the second-string England Lions at Worcester last month.

Now he hopes to join “unbelievable role model Cook”, in an England fightback in what will be the 100th Test staged at The Oval.

Someone who knows all about building an innings is Amla. It was at The Oval in 2012 where Amla made South Africa’s record individual Test score of 311 not out.

“Test cricket has an element of grind in it,” said Amla. “You can’t be attacking all the time and you can’t grind all the time: it’s finding the right balance.”

South Africa were strengthened at Trent Bridge by the return of astute captain Faf du Plessis, who has lost just one of his 12 Tests as skipper.

Middlesex paceman Toby Roland-Jones will make his England Test debut after Mark Wood was ruled out with injury. Durham fast bowler Wood missed Wednesday’s final training session for the third Test with an ongoing heel problem.

“Wood is not 100 per cent fit so he’s going to miss out this week and Toby Roland-Jones comes in for a debut,” Root told a news conference on Wednesday.

Roland-Jones, 29, has twice been included in Test squads for matches at his Lord’s home ground but will now make his debut in the five-day game on the other side of London’s River Thames at Surrey’s headquarters.

England may include a third debutant if Middlesex batsman Dawid Malan, born in London but brought up in South Africa, is included instead of left-arm spinner Liam Dawson.

Teams:

ENGLAND (from): Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Tom Westley, Joe Root (captain), Jonny Bairstow (wicket-keeper), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Liam Dawson, Stuart Broad, Toby Roland-Jones, James Anderson, Dawid Malan.

SOUTH AFRICA (probable): Heino Kuhn, Dean Elgar, Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (wicket-keeper), Faf du Plessis (captain), Temba Bavuma, Vernon Philander, Chris Morris, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel.

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan), Joel Wilson (West Indies)

TV umpire: Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka)

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka).

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2017