Australia favourites to retain WTC crown

LONDON:

Australia will have 关键字3to dust off the cobwebs but are still fancied to successfully defend their World Test Championship crown against equally ring-rusty South Africa in the final at Lord's, starting on Wednesday.

The five-day clash comes on the heels of a plethora of limited overs cricket over the last five months and both teams have been scrambling to prepare for a high-profile return to the red-ball game. Australia have not played a test since beating Sri Lanka in Galle in February when they made sure of a top-two finish in the standings from results for the 2023-25 WTC cycle.

South Africa were assured of top place when they won their last Test against Pakistan at home in January to book a first-ever finals appearance. It came on the back of a run of seven successive wins, but the fact they did not play against the Aussies or England has seen their achievement dismissed as too easy. Former England captain Michael Vaughan said they reached the final "on the back of beating pretty much nobody," which was a result of the lopsided test schedule where Australia, England, and India dominate and South Africa elect to play more financially lucrative limited-overs internationals.

But an upset win for South Africa could change that. "It's the biggest thing in this team's existence. It's the biggest thing for South African cricket at the moment," said their coach Shukri Conrad.

Australia have been warming up with training sessions at Beckenham in Kent as they grapple with selection choices. They must pick between Scott Boland or Josh Hazlewood to join skipper Pat Cummins, left-armer Mitchell Starc and spinner Nathan Lyon in the attack'

The top batting order is likely to be changed with Cameron Green set to return for his first test in more than a year. He will likely bat third with Marnus Labuschagne opening alongside Usman Khawaja, while Steve Smith will come in at No. 4.

South Africa's planned four-day warm-up scrimmage with Zimbabwe at Arundel last week was largely washed out but did hint at Wiaan Mulder moving up the order to No.3 in a batting lineup that has been inconsistent over the last two years. Their hopes rest instead on a fiery bowling attack where Kagiso Rabada features after serving a one-month ban for recreational drug use. Australia won the last WTC final by beating India at The Oval two years ago. New Zealand were the inaugural winners in 2021.

'Flawed' WTC reveals cricket's underlying problems

Meanwhile, Wisden, cricket's 'bible', was scathing in its assessment, with editor Lawrence Booth writing in this year's edition that the WTC is a "shambles masquerading as a showpiece".

Former England captain Michael Atherton said "everyone knows the WTC in its present guise is flawed".

One fundamental problem is that political tensions mean India and Pakistan, two of cricket's leading nations, have not played a Test against each other since 2007.

The nine-nation WTC is further skewed because the teams are not being required to face each other or to play the same number of matches, unlike most sports leagues. Countries are free to decide how many Tests they would like to play in the two-year qualifying cycle – something Booth wants doubled to four years, with the top nine in the rankings all playing each other, home and away, over series that last at least three Tests.

Positions are calculated on the percentage of available points won by teams.

One of those involved in devising the points system, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP: "It's difficult to come up with a solution where everyone is happy given the barriers to an 'orthodox' table that exist, such as the India-Pakistan situation.