Australia are clear favourites to win the World Test Championship, starting on Wednesday at Lord’s against South Africa, because they are a well-oiled machine.
They boast experienced batters in Travis Head, Steven Smith, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne and a returning Cameron Green, all of whom were part of the team that won the WTC final against India in 2023.
The fast bowling contingent is the ever-reliable trio of Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, and Mitchell Starc, with Nathan Lyon being the lone spinner. While Scott Boland is definitely a strong contender to play in the final, Hazlewood’s strong IPL numbers and match fitness should tilt the tide in his favour.
Hazlewood missed out on playing in the WTC final in 2023, and the trophy is the only one missing from his decorated career. Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood, and Lyon have more than 1500 Test wickets among them, which clearly favours the Australians in the bowling department.
The South African team has lost only one Test in the eight matches they have played at Lord’s since their readmission to international cricket in 1991.
Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, and Lungi Ngidi, along with the formidable Kagiso Rabada, give the Proteas a chance to break the back of the Australian batting.
Rabada also boasts the best average of 19.38 (minimum two matches) for any bowler at Lord’s, better than Australia’s Pat Cummins (21.10), Josh Hazlewood (26.15), and Mitchell Starc (33.62).
However, in knockouts (or ICC finals), the team that holds its nerves that wins the game, more so than raw talent.
South Africa’s history of choking at the big stage doesn’t help their cause. On the other hand, you have an Australian team that has played and won the World Cup in 2015 and 2023, the WTC in 2023, and the T20 World Cup in 2021.
The Proteas are coming into the final on the back of seven consecutive Test victories. However, eight members of the South African squad have never faced Australia and have never played at Lord’s.
Smith has scored 525 runs at Lord’s, the most by any Australian batter. He made his Test debut at Lord’s in 2010 and has hit two centuries there, including 110 in his last visit during the 2023 Ashes. Head was the Player of the Match against India in the last WTC final in 2023.
(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
For South Africa, Kyle Verreynne has amassed 488 runs in 14 innings in the current cycle, with three hundreds and a fifty to his name. He has played match-winning hundreds at Mirpur, gritty knocks down the order, and an unbeaten 105 at Gqeberha, showcasing his value to this team.
Skipper Temba Bavuma has led in nine Tests since 2023 and is yet to lose one. He was made the captain after South Africa’s humbling 2-0 loss to Australia in the away series.
Since 2023, he has an average of 57.78 with the bat – after seven fifties and three hundreds. Before the captaincy, his average was 34.53 since he made his debut in 2015.
At the top, the Proteas will rely on the experienced Aiden Markram. Ryan Rickelton had a decent IPL.
The last time he played a Test against Pakistan at home, Rickelton scored the first double-hundred, hitting 259 off 343 balls, first by a Proteas opener since Graeme Smith in 2013 and the first double by any South African since Hashim Amla in 2016.
Rickelton was part of the Proteas team that toured England in 2022. Lower down the order, Verreynne and Bavuma will have to score runs for their team to post a big score.
Rabada, Maharaj, Jansen, Wiaan Mulder, and Corbin Bosch can also chip in with the bat lower down the order.
South Africa are not going to get rid of the “chokers” tag until they win an ICC trophy, which is harsh for the younger generation of cricketers coming through the ranks. A win for them would be a win for the cricketing world and will inspire a generation of cricketers in South Africa, especially for a nation to overcome scheduling inequality, player unavailability, and funding constraints. That would be a fairytale ending led by a black cricketer.
Looking at the both the team it’s the team that bats well should win the match. Australia have an experienced Smith, Khawaja, Labuschagne and Head to do the job with all-rounder in Green and Alex Carey to score big runs.
South Africa would have to bat out of their skin to win or even draw the contest.
A draw looks a best case scenario for Proteas at the moment. A strong and competing South Africa will be a great news for the Test cricket.
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