In the last two years, South Africa will have a golden opportunity to remove the ‘Chores’ (kneeling in front of pressure) in front of the World Test Championship final by performing well in the last two years, but for this he will have to break into the ICC tournament’s fort.
Australia is the only team that has won all four ICC Trophy (ODI World Cup, Champions Trophy, T20 World Cup and WTC). It is difficult to defeat him in the final of global tournaments. The team has reached the finals 13 times in the ICC tournaments and has managed to win the title 10 times.
The South African team is known for slipping close to victory in crucial matches. The team has so far won only one tournament of ICC. The team won the Champions Trophy title in 1998. This team of South Africa has a good mix of experience and young players and the team would like to forget the previous failures through this match to be played at the neutral site.
The team used the maximum 30 players in the 2023-25 cycle of WTC. Most of these players came out at the right time or taking wickets. The team is set to play WTC final with a win in seven consecutive Tests. He had confirmed its ticket in December last year.
The biggest challenge for Australia would be to decide Usman Khwaja’s partner to start the innings. The team has the remaining 10 players except David Warner from the playing XI to play the last WTC final against India. Medium -speed bowler Josh Hazlewood did not play the match due to injury. However, he is ready to replace Scott Bolland, who was in that team. Hazelwood played an important role in making Royal Challengers Bangalore an IPL champion last week, recovering from a shoulder injury. He performed strongly with 22 wickets in 12 matches in the IPL.
The decision to replace Warner as an opener has not been decided. 19 -year -old Sam Contas impressed the aggressive attitude against India but in February, Travis Head played the role in Sri Lanka. It is believed that the head will be seen in this role once. The form of Marnas Labushen in the middle order for the team is a matter of concern but all -round Cameron Green has returned from surgery and made a brilliant comeback by scoring three centuries, representing Glucersher in County Cricket.
There is no lack of experience in Australia’s bowling. The team consists of four bowlers out of Australia’s top 10 wickets. It is named Nathan Leon (553, third), Mitchell Starc (382, fourth), captain Pat Cummins (294, Eighth) and Hazelwood (279, 10th). Smith is 36 years old and has not played competitive cricket after March. The same situation is also with Constas, opener Khwaja, Leon, Bolland and wicketkeeper Alex Carrie. Smith, however, has scored four centuries in the last five Tests and has also crossed the 10,000 -run mark.
This figure is almost equal to the run of the entire South African team. Lords are around 58. The biggest challenge before him will be to deal with Kagiso Rabada. Rabada will also create problems for Australia’s openers. He has done Khwaja five times in 10 Test matches. Rabada has 327 Test wickets. He will expect better help from Marco Yanseen. Left bowler Yansen has taken 29 wickets in six matches in the WTC Chakra. The team will have the third option of Lungi Ngidi and Dane Patterson fast bowling. If the Ngidi is reaching there by playing IPL, then the same Petarson has played county cricket recently.
Edem Marrakash and Ryan Recelton will start the innings for South Africa while captain Bavuma will bat in fourth place. David Bedingham, who scored the most runs for the team in the current WTC cycle, proved in a practice match against Zimbabwe that he had recovered the finger of finger in April. However, the record of both teams has been excellent on Lord’s ground. South Africa has faced only one defeat in seven matches while Australia’s team has not lost a single match in the last 10 years.