South Africa win toss, elect to bowl first against Australia in WTC final

LONDON: South Africa have won the toss and elected to bowl first in the final of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023–25 against Australia here at the Lord’s cricket ground.

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.

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