Cricket News: England VS South Africa 1st Test - Catch all LIVE action

In a three-match T20I series last month, South Africa defeated England 2-1 and evened the ODI series at 1-1. 

After a two-week break, the three-match Test series between the two sides is finally scheduled to begin. 

England's red-ball team is flying high after thumping New Zealand 3-0 and India in the postponed fifth Test match. 

England has recently adopted an offensive stance in Test cricket and dominated India and New Zealand under the new leadership of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.

South Africa currently leads the World Test Championship table with five victories and two losses. They will, however, face a different battle against the in-form Three Lions. 

South Africa won their most recent Test series against Bangladesh by a score of 2-0, but last week's practice match against the England Lions ended in a defeat of an innings and 56 runs. 

In the practice game, South Africa also lost right-arm pacer Duanne Olivier to a hip injury, but they still have enough speed options to compete with England at Lord's. 

England has won four of the last five Tests against South Africa and is favoured to win again.

England VS South Africa 1st Test - Pitch and weather

After weeks of drought in London, rain is on the way, with the competition slated to take place over the next five days. In red-ball cricket, the Lord's pitch is evenly suited for both batsmen and bowlers.

In the first session's early innings, Pacers are likely to trouble the batters with the new ball, but after that, the pitch will favor the batters.

Injury News: Duanne Olivier has been ruled out of the Test series owing to a grade 2 right hip flexor muscle strain.

Probable Playing XIs:

England

Ben Stokes (c), Alex Lees, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes (wk), Stuart Broad, Matthew Potts, Jack Leach, James Anderson.

South Africa

Dean Elgar (c), Rassie van der Dussen, Sarel Erwee, Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Marco Jansen, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje.