South Africa won the toss and decided to bowl in the decisive third and final Twenty20 international against Australia at Newlands on Wednesday.

With the series locked at 1-1, South Africa captain Quinton de Kock said the statistics showed it was better to bat second in day-night games at the ground.

"It looks dry but tonight under lights it should be a bit better (for batting)," he said of the pitch. "Contrary to the stats, we would have batted first," said Australian captain Aaron Finch. "We feel this is a lot drier than we have seen in the past. Hopefully we can post a big total and then defend it as it slows down later."

Australia were unchanged for the third game in a row as Steve Smith and David Warner return to the scene of 2018's sandpaper scandal. Smith and Warner were captain and vice-captain two years ago when team-mate Cameron Bancroft was caught on television hiding a piece of yellow sandpaper in his trousers.

Batsman Heinrich Klaasen returned after injury for the hosts in place of Reeza Hendricks, with Rassie van der Dussen moving up to open the batting in place of Hendricks.

Teams:

South Africa: Quinton de Kock (captain, wkt), Rassie van der Dussen, Faf du Plessis, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Pite van Biljon, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi.

Australia: Aaron Finch (capt), David Warner, Steve Smith, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wkt), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa.

Umpires: Adrian Holdstock, Bongani Jele (both RSA)

TV umpire: Allahudien Palekar (RSA)

Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)