Lack of Test preparation no bother for South Africa ahead of World Test Championship final

A lack of preparation for the World Test Championship final will be no problem for South Africa as they get set to take on Australia at Lord’s, opener Aiden Markram said on Sunday.

South Africa last played a Test in January when they beat Pakistan to book a place in the WTC final and their hopes of an extensive warm-up last week were stymied as their four-day match with Zimbabwe was largely rained out.

“A lot of our series have been two Test series, so in order to win them, you can’t start slow, so I suppose there’s a little bit of that that’s helped us along the way,” Markram told a press conference at Lord’s, where the WTC final begins on Wednesday.

“We know the importance of starting well, trying to get ahead of the game early and how important each session is going to be, because there’s no second dip at it.

“We have to make sure we hit the ground running and are nice and sharp come day one,” he added.

South Africa qualified for the final with a seven-match winning streak but also having played seven Tests fewer than Australia, who are defending champions.

“We’ve had a lot fewer games, so I suppose every time you get in, everyone’s obviously getting super pumped up to play Test cricket because we don’t play as much of it,” Markram said.

South African cricket have a long history of coming close but failing in limited overs tournaments, but Markram felt that would have no impact on their first WTC final.

“This team’s obviously very different (in) personnel to what the white-ball squad was, so we haven’t addressed it too much,” he said.

“The few of us that have been a part of previous ICC events that didn’t go our way, have dealt with it. We’ve obviously chatted to each other and made sure we’ve buried it nicely and taken some good lessons from it.

“But besides from that now it’s more about the excitement of having another opportunity to actually do the job. So it’s pretty much where the mind is at the moment. If we play good cricket, you give ourselves at least a fairly good chance of winning.”

Australia’s Hazlewood does not want to miss WTC final again: A calf injury forced Josh Hazlewood to miss being part of Australia’s World Test Championship win two years ago and the fast bowler is keen to avoid a second such heartbreak as they defend their WTC title next week.

Hazlewood is vying with Scott Boland to claim the last slot in Australia’s pace attack for the final.

The 34-year-old arrived late in England, after bowling Royal Challengers Bengaluru to their maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title on Tuesday.

“I was quite close last time,” Hazlewood, who recently recovered from a should injury, said of the 2023 final he missed.

“But I feel in much better place this time around, and I think in any format, my numbers over the last two years have been pretty good, so I’ve got a lot to fall back on.

“Skill wise, I still feel like I’m bowling the best I have in my career and it’s just a matter of the body holding up, which it has been in the last few months.”

Hazlewood was Bengaluru’s most successful bowler in the IPL but he will need to shift from 20-overs cricket in India to a different format and the different English conditions.

Adjusting the length would be particularly crucial, he said.

“In the IPL games, I was probably hitting around that seven-to nine-meters in the powerplay, and not really threatening the stumps as much as you want to in test cricket, in particular here in England,” he said.

“So, it’ll just be about pushing that length and touch fuller and still getting that zip through the keeper.”

Reuters

LONDON: A lack of preparation for the World Test Championship final will be no problem for South Africa as they get set to take on Australia at Lord’s, opener Aiden Markram said on Sunday.

South Africa last played a Test in January when they beat Pakistan to book a place in the WTC final and their hopes of an extensive warm-up last week were stymied as their four-day match with Zimbabwe was largely rained out.

“A lot of our series have been two Test series, so in order to win them, you can’t start slow, so I suppose there’s a little bit of that that’s helped us along the way,” Markram told a press conference at Lord’s, where the WTC final begins on Wednesday.

“We know the importance of starting well, trying to get ahead of the game early and how important each session is going to be, because there’s no second dip at it.

“We have to make sure we hit the ground running and are nice and sharp come day one,” he added.

South Africa qualified for the final with a seven-match winning streak but also having played seven Tests fewer than Australia, who are defending champions.

“We’ve had a lot fewer games, so I suppose every time you get in, everyone’s obviously getting super pumped up to play Test cricket because we don’t play as much of it,” Markram said.

South African cricket have a long history of coming close but failing in limited overs tournaments, but Markram felt that would have no impact on their first WTC final.

“This team’s obviously very different (in) personnel to what the white-ball squad was, so we haven’t addressed it too much,” he said.

“The few of us that have been a part of previous ICC events that didn’t go our way, have dealt with it. We’ve obviously chatted to each other and made sure we’ve buried it nicely and taken some good lessons from it.

“But besides from that now it’s more about the excitement of having another opportunity to actually do the job. So it’s pretty much where the mind is at the moment. If we play good cricket, you give ourselves at least a fairly good chance of winning.”

Australia’s Hazlewood does not want to miss WTC final again: A calf injury forced Josh Hazlewood to miss being part of Australia’s World Test Championship win two years ago and the fast bowler is keen to avoid a second such heartbreak as they defend their WTC title next week.

Hazlewood is vying with Scott Boland to claim the last slot in Australia’s pace attack for the final.

The 34-year-old arrived late in England, after bowling Royal Challengers Bengaluru to their maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title on Tuesday.

“I was quite close last time,” Hazlewood, who recently recovered from a should injury, said of the 2023 final he missed.

“But I feel in much better place this time around, and I think in any format, my numbers over the last two years have been pretty good, so I’ve got a lot to fall back on.

“Skill wise, I still feel like I’m bowling the best I have in my career and it’s just a matter of the body holding up, which it has been in the last few months.”

Hazlewood was Bengaluru’s most successful bowler in the IPL but he will need to shift from 20-overs cricket in India to a different format and the different English conditions.

Adjusting the length would be particularly crucial, he said.

“In the IPL games, I was probably hitting around that seven-to nine-meters in the powerplay, and not really threatening the stumps as much as you want to in test cricket, in particular here in England,” he said.

“So, it’ll just be about pushing that length and touch fuller and still getting that zip through the keeper.”

Reuters