WI hand Test debut to Seales after one first-class game

GROS ISLET, Saint Lucia: West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite won the toss and chose to bat first against South Africa on the opening day of the first match of a two-Test series in St Lucia on Thursday.

West Indies gave a debut to 19-year-old fast bowler Jayden Seales, who has played just one first-class match previously.

In contrast, South Africa´s two debutants, middle-order batsmen Keegan Peterson and Kyle Verrynne, who gets his chance because of a hip injury to the experienced Temba Bavuma, have both played more than 40 first-class matches.

This is the first meeting in Test cricket between the two teams in the West Indies since 2010 and the first time since their historic one-off meeting in 1992 in Barbados that the Caribbean side are ranked higher than the Proteas ahead of a series.

Teams

West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), Shai Hope, Nkrumah Bonner, Kyle Mayers, Roston Chase, Jermaine Blackwood, Jason Holder, Joshua da Silva (wkt), Rahkeem Cornwall, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales.0

South Africa: Dean Elgar (capt), Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Keegan Petersen, Kyle Verrynne, Quinton de Kock (wkt), Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi.