Australia bowl in first ODI; Brevis, Subrayen make SA debuts

Toss Australia opt to bowl vs South Africa

Kagiso Rabada has been ruled out of the entire ODI series against Australia with an ankle issue while Dewald Brevis and Prenelan Subrayen will make their debuts in the first ODI in Cairns against Australia.

Rabada's injury, announced just ten minutes before the toss, is an inflammation on his ankle. Kwena Maphaka had been added to the ODI squad on Monday after finishing as the leading wicket-taker in the T20I series but did not playing the opening fixture's XI. Subreyan, the spin-bowling allrounder, instead is on ODI debut after he played his first Test for South Africa last month.

Brevis, who starred in the T20I series, will also play his first ODI with two Tests and 10 T20Is under his belt. There are only six players remaining from South Africa's last ODI in the Champions Trophy semi-final. Heinrich Klaasen has since retired from all formats while David Miller (unavailable) and Marco Jansen (injured) not featuring in the series either.

Australia's XI was much more predictable after stand-in captain Mitchell Marsh won the toss and had no hesitation in bowling first for the 21st time in 21 toss wins as captain in white-ball matches. The pitch at the Cazaly's Stadium appears to be a dry surface.

Marsh did not play in Australia's Champions Trophy semi-final earlier this year but will open alongside Travis Head. Marnus Labuschagne has been elevated to No. 3 while Cameron Green returns to No. 4 after also missing the Champions Trophy through injury. Aaron Hardie replaces the retired Glenn Maxwell while Josh Hazlewood returns to the ODI side after also missing the Champions Trophy.

Regular ODI captain Pat Cummins and fast bowler Mitchell Starc have both been rested from the series while Steven Smith has retired from ODIs. Matt Short and Mitchell Owen are also unavailable owing to injuries.

Australia: 1 Travis Head, 2 Mitchell Marsh (capt), 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Cameron Green, 5 Josh Inglis (wk), 6 Alex Carey, 7 Aaron Hardie, 8 Ben Dwarshuis, 9 Nathan Ellis, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood

South Africa: 1 Aiden Markram, 2 Ryan Rickelton, 3 Temba Bavuma (capt), 4 Matthew Breetzke, 5 Tristan Stubbs, 6 Dewald Brevis, 7 Wiaan Mulder, 8 Keshav Maharaj, 9 Prenelan Subrayen, 10 Nandre Burger, 11 Lungi Ngidi.