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The Proteas are heading into the WTC final slightly underdone due to their warm-up match against Zimbabwe being washed out.
The Proteas walk off the field during their warm-up match against Zimbabwe in Arundel last week. Picture: Matthew Lewis-ICC/ICC via Getty Images
The Proteas go into the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia at Lord’s on Wednesday undercooked, after their warm-up match against Zimbabwe was basically washed out last week.
The four-day game, which was their only warm-up together as a team before the final, saw just one day of play possible, after days one, three and four were completely rained out.
Day two saw the Proteas bat for 79 overs, scoring 313/7, including four players who retired out. In all, nine batters got time at the crease, before they declared their innings closed and then only bowled 11 overs at Zimbabwe via four bowlers.
It is thus going to be hard for Temba Bavuma’s team to hit the ground running on Wednesday, especially since most of them have either not played in a long time or have only played limited overs cricket recently.
Before last week’s single day of play, players like Kehsav Maharaj, Tony de Zorzi and Senuran Muthusamy hadn’t played any cricket since featuring in some first class action in South Africa in March and April, while captain Temba Bavuma hadn’t played since the Champions Trophy in February.
Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kagiso Rabada, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi and Corbin Bosch have all only played T20 cricket at the IPL in India recently, with only Markram, Jansen, Rickelton and Stubbs playing regularly, while Rabada was stunted due to his month-long ban for recreational drug use.
Regular game time
The only players heading into the final with some recent regular long format game time behind them are David Bedingham, Dane Paterson and Kyle Verreynne, who have all been in action in the English County Championship.
The last Test that the Proteas played together was back in January when they clinched a 2-0 series win over Pakistan.
Luckily though the Aussies are in a very similar position, having not played any Test cricket since their series win over Sri Lanka in February.
Their players have also either not played any cricket at all in some months, while others have featured in the County Championship in England and in the IPL.
It will thus be interesting to see which of the teams are able to settle quickest on Wednesday’s first day of the final, at a neutral venue, and whoever manages to do that could well set the tone for the remainder of the match.
