Australia eye successful defence, South Africa keen to end title drought in WTC final

LONDON: Reigning champions Australia and table-toppers are set to lock horns in the highly-anticipated ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 final, scheduled to get underway here at The Lord’s on Wednesday.

After enthralling 68 matches, played between nine teams across 27 series in the league stage, the equation has come down to Australia and South Africa, who took contrasting routes to reach the final.

Road to final

South Africa, who are chasing their first major trophy since winning the ICC Knockout in 1998, played 12 matches in the ongoing season, winning eight out of them to finish at the top of the standings with a 69.44 winning percentage.

Despite their consistent performances in the season, their journey to the final came under scrutiny, with former England captain Michael Vaughan claiming that it came ‘on the back of beating pretty much nobody’ as they did not face Australia or England.

The Proteas are more reliant on their pace attack, led by Kagiso Rabada, who will be making his return after a failed drug test.

He is their leading wicket-taker in the ongoing season with 47 wickets in 10 matches and is closely followed by spinner Keshav Maharaj.

Middle-order batter David Bedingham has been South Africa’s most successful batter in the WTC 2023-25, having scored 645 runs in 12 matches. Skipper Temba Bavuma and experienced top-order batter Aiden Markram are the other notable run-getters with 609 and 572 respectively.

Australia, on the other hand, booked their place in the WTC final by defeating Sri Lanka in Galle in February.

The defending champions played 19 matches and won 13 of them, which included series victories over Pakistan, India and England.

Similar to South Africa, the Kangaroos would be relying on their pacers, especially skipper Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, who are the second and third leading wicket-takers with 73 and 72 scalps, respectively, while top-order batter Usman Khawaja, experienced Steve Smith and Travis Head have been the cornerstones of their batting prowess.

Rain threat and reserve day

According to the United Kingdom (UK) Met Office, the weather is likely to remain suitable for the action with the opening day likely to remain uninterrupted as there is only a four per cent chance of precipitation.

The second day, however, could be disrupted as there are 50 per cent chance of rain during the afternoon.

The weather is likely to remain cloudy on the third day with passing showers expected, while the chances of rain on the remaining two days are negligible.

Although rain is highly unlikely to play spoilsport in the ultimate Test, the ICC has allocated Monday, June 16th, as the reserve day.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Australia and South Africa have come face to face 101 times in Tests with the former boasting a dominant record with 54 victories, while the Proteas emerged victorious on 26 occasions. 21 matches were drawn.

Their most recent meetings came in late 2022 when South Africa toured Australia for a three-match Test series, which the hosts won convincingly by 2-0 as the last fixture ended in a draw.

Their last face-off in a Test at The Lord’s, however, came in 1912 during the fifth match of the Triangular Test tournament, involving hosts England. Australia won the fixture by 10 wickets.

Matches: 101

Australia: 54

South Africa: 26

Drawn: 21

FORM GUIDE

Both Australia and South Africa enter the summit clash, boasting positive momentums as the two sides are unbeaten in their last five matches.

South Africa: W, W, W, W, W (most recent first)

Australia: W, W, W, W, D

Playing XIs

Australia: Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood.

South Africa: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma (c), Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Kyle Verrynne (wk), Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi.