A cloudy day at Newlands and a firm, grassy pitch. It felt like a good bowling day at the start of the second Test between South Africa and Sri Lanka in Cape Town and it was Sri Lanka who had the opportunity as Angelo Mathews won the toss.

In response to South Africa's emphatic 206-run win in the first Test in Port Elizabeth, Sri Lanka made two changes, omitting Kusal Perera and Dushmantha Chameera in favour of Lahiru Perera and the seasoned Upul Tharanga.

South Africa retained the same eleven, with Quinton de Kock making light of a minor finger injury.

Du Plessis was unabashed about the fact that the Newlands pitch looked fresher than the one that met England at Newlands a year ago. "Against England last year it was a road," he said. "It was different for that bowling attack. You have to prepare for the team you are playing against."

South Africa 1 Dean Elgar, 2 Stephen Cook, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 JP Duminy, 5 Faf du Plessis (capt), 6 Temba Bavuma, 7 Quinton de Kock (wk), 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Kyle Abbott, 10 Keshav Maharaj, 11 Kagiso Rabada

Sri Lanka 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Kaushal Silva, 3 Upul Tharanga, 4 Kusal Mendis, 5 Angelo Mathews (capt), 6 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 7 Dhananjaya de Silva, 8 Rangana Herath, 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Nuwan Pradeep, 11 Lahiru Kumara.

(ESPN)