England Win Toss & Choose To Bat First In Karachi, Check Out Playing 11s For ENG vs SA Match

ENG vs SA, Champions Trophy 2025: England captain Jos Buttler won the toss and opted to bat first against South Africa in the both teams’ last match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 match on March 1 (Saturday) at the National Stadium in Karachi. England, already out out of the Champions Trophy 2025 tournament, will be playing for their pride. South Africa, on the other hand, already have one foot into the semifinals but still need a win to confirm their place in the final four. 

Notably, Jos Buttler stood down as England’s ODI captain on the eve of the ENG vs SA match after England’s disastrous Champions Trophy campaign. 

Coming into the ENG vs SA match, England lost to Australia by five wickets and also faced an eight-run defeat at the hands of Afghanistan. South Africa, on the other hand, defeated Afghanistan by 107 runs and shared a point with Australia due to a no-result.

ENG vs SA Champions Trophy 2025 Match Playing 11s

England Playing 11 vs South Africa: Philip Salt, Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith(w), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler(c), Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood

South Africa Playing 11 vs England: Tristan Stubbs, Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram(c), Heinrich Klaasen(w), David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi

Here’s what England captain Jos Buttler and South Africa captain Aiden Markram said during the ENG vs SA toss:

Jos Buttler: We are gonna bat first today, looks like a decent wicket, a few cracks there. We followed the game between South Africa and Afghanistan here and the influenced our decision. I felt like it was time, so I didn’t want to take more time to take that decision (on stepping down from England white-ball captaincy). It was an easy decision and I will do it for one last time, hopefully we can do well. A bit of sadness as well, it’s an honour to captain your country, it’s something you dream about and I have had some good moments along the way. (On the replacement for the injured Mark Wood) Saqib Mahmood comes in, he is a good new-ball bowler and it’s exciting to have him.

Aiden Markram: We are actually happy to chase, haven’t chased in this comp yet, we are looking forward to have a good game against a strong English side. Two guys have had illness around the camp, Tony and Temba miss out. Unfortunate that they miss out but hopefully they will recover. Our last game got rained out, we had a few training sessions, we are ready for this game.