Proteas raise eyebrows with Jansen benching, spinner selection: 'He's an exciting talent'

Proteas speedster Kagiso Rabada on Thursday shrugged off the question marks over the omission of the lanky Marco Jansen in favour of a second spinner in Simon Harmer for the second Test against England in Manchester.

The young beanpole was influential last week at Lord's with a good all-round performance, but was "unfortunate" to miss out this time round as the Proteas instead went into the second Test with a second spinner in Simon Harmer. 

Having won the toss, skipper Dean Elgar then surprisingly opted to bat first in gloomy conditions, and the Proteas were bowled all out for 151. 

SCORECARD | Proteas v England - 2nd Test

There was some fight back with the ball, and at stumps on day one England were 111/3 with the pace trio of Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi causing problems for their opposition top order. 

Rabada, though, backed the decision to go with two spinners - Harmer bowled just one over on Monday - while he also said that the decision to leave Jansen out was not based on the player's form. 

"These selection issues come up [sometimes]. Marco is an exciting talent, he can bat and we've seen what he does with the ball," said Rabada.

"He has X-factor. It was a team decision to leave him out, not based on his performance.

"Simon is a top quality bowler, he’s proven it in England and if you could choose a replacement for Marco, it would be him."

Play on Friday starts at 12:00 (SA time) and with England training by just 40 runs, the Proteas will desperately need early wickets on the day.