Proteas prepare for Test final with lone warm-up match against Zimbabwe

They would have liked more game time in the longer format in the build-up to the World Test Championship final, but the Proteas are confident a single warm-up match against Zimbabwe will be sufficient preparation, along with their training sessions as a squad.

The SA team will face minnows Zimbabwe in a four-day game in Arundel starting on Tuesday, before moving on to London where they meet Australia in the Test final starting on 11 June at Lord’s.

Having last played a Test in January, against Pakistan on home soil, Proteas captain Temba Bavuma admitted more time on the field in the red-ball format would have helped, but he said they needed to work with what they had.

“I wouldn’t say it’s enough, but it’s a game of cricket. It’s an opportunity for us to be on the field and dust off the cobwebs,” Bavuma said.

“A lot of us haven’t been playing red-ball cricket, so it’s a chance for the bowlers to get time on their legs and for the batters to get accustomed to their processes and spend some time out in the middle.

“I’m not a big fan of practice games, to be honest, but you take what you take from the opportunity.”

‘It will have to be good enough’

Head coach Shukri Conrad felt they would be ready to take on Australia, even with a limited build-up, with most players having focused on limited overs cricket this year.

After arriving in England at the weekend, the Proteas were at least able to spend some time together as a squad as they geared up for the crunch clash against their perennial rivals.

“This game (against Zimbabwe), coupled with whatever work we can put in outside of that, is going to have to be good enough,” Conrad said.

“But I don’t think we need to be doing anything out of the ordinary in order to beat Australia. We probably go in as underdogs, and rightly so, not because of ability but maybe just in experience.

“I’m very confident that, when we play to our best, that we’ve got every chance of beating them.”