West Indies Elect to Bat Against South Africa in Final Test

Barbados: West Indies captain Chris Gayle won the toss and elected to bat against South Africa on the opening day of the third and final Test on Saturday at Kensington Oval.

West Indies have been forced to make two changes to their line-up, with the South Africans making just one.

The home team have dropped makeshift opening batsman Travis Dowlin, and allows his replacement Dale Richards to play his first Test on home soil.

Richards made his Test debut for West Indies last year against Bangladesh, when a number of regular players took industrial action to protest terms and conditions, scoring a half-century in the second Test in Grenada.

The other change for West Indies sees uncapped fast bowler Brandon Bess for Ravi Rampaul, who was not considered, after picking up a side strain in St. Kitts, and returned to his native Trinidad and Tobago to rest and seek medical treatment.

Guyanese Bess has been an 11th hour replacement, after rookie fast bowler Nelon Pascal strained a neck muscle during warm-ups just prior to the start, and all-rounder Darren Sammy suffered a thigh strain on Thursday.

Bess is one of the young players attending the West Indies High Performance Centre at the University of the West Indies in Barbados, and would have made the short drive down the highway that connects the ground to the west coast of the island to take his place.

The Proteas have brought Johan Botha in to replace fast bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

South Africa lead the three-Test series 1-0, after they won the first Test by 163 runs inside four days last Sunday at Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad.

Teams

West Indies Chris Gayle (captain), Dale Richards, Narsingh Deonarine, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Brendan Nash, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Sulieman Benn, Shane Shillingford, Kemar Roach, Brandon Bess

South Africa Graeme Smith (captain), Alviro Petersen, Hashim Amla, Ashwell Prince, Jacques Kallis, Abraham deVilliers, Mark Boucher (wk), Johan Botha, Paul Harris, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel

Scores	Upcoming	Results
Australia vs India - 3rd Test West Indies vs Bangladesh - 2nd T20I 3rd T20I - West Indies v Bangladesh - December 19, 00:00 GMT 2nd ODI - Zimbabwe v Afghanistan - December 19, 07:30 GMT 1st ODI - South Africa v Pakistan at Paarl Pakistan won by 3 wickets (with 3 balls remaining) 1st ODI - Zimbabwe v Afghanistan at Harare No results

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