South Africa to play 2nd Test with black armbands in respect of Domingo's late mother

South Africa coach Russell Domingo was bereaved by the demise of his mother, who passed away late on Sunday night following a car accident, which she was unable fully recover from. The South African coach had rushed to the airport on Sunday following the end of the first Test at Lord’s to spend this difficult time at home.

When the Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis who is back in the team after missing the opening encounter came to the field for the toss, he was wearing a black armband. And it was evident that the black bands were a signal of respect to show condolences for the untimely death of their coach’s mother.

Questions were raised of South Africa’s team combination after Faf admitted that JP Duminy’s place was under question while confirming a few days later that he had in fact been dropped. He had earlier said, “JP will be the first guy to say he knows he needs to score runs for this team and it’s no different for anyone else.”

Du Plessis had laid down certain options as to the combination of the squad, suggesting that they could go for 4 pronged pace attack by playing Chris Morris and reserve pacer Duanne Olivier, or they could just keep things simple with du Plessis replacing Duminy or including the young Theunis De Bruyne in the mix.

Positive start

As it turned out, South Africa took the first option and included Morkel and Olivier in the XI. They had a positive start to the Test match as the coin flipped in their favour and they chose to bat in favourable conditions. England are fielding an unchanged XI, that tasted success with a 211-run victory at Lord’s, who will be further depleted with Kagiso Rabada missing out due to a controversial suspension.