4 Factors That Could Decide the SA vs AUS WTC 2025 Final

The World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 Final will begin on June 11 at Lord’s in London. South Africa will take on Australia in this big match. It’s the first time South Africa have reached a WTC Final, while Australia are the defending champions.

South Africa took first place in the 2023-25 World Test Championship table, while Australia came in second. Australia are favourites to win this match because of their solid squad, but South Africa is in great form in red-ball cricket and shouldn’t be overlooked.

Here are four factors that could decide the WTC 2025 Final.

Dukes Ball Might Trouble South Africa

The Dukes ball swings more in the air and moves more off the pitch than the Kookaburra. Australia are used to it because they played with it recently in the 2023 Ashes, where their fast bowlers (Cummins, Hazlewood, Starc) took 57 wickets. They have also played the WTC 2023 final before the Ashes.

Meanwhile, South Africa last played in England in 2022, and most of their batters haven’t faced the Dukes ball recently. This could make it tough for them against one of the best attacks in the world.

Rabada Can Be South Africa’s Main Weapon

Kagiso Rabada has done well against Australia, taking 49 wickets in 10 Tests. He also has a good record in England with 30 wickets in six matches. His current form and experience make him South Africa’s biggest hope. If he gets early wickets, it will help the team a lot. Only one other bowler has a better average against Australia in Tests since 2010 – Jasprit Bumrah. It’s a reflection of how important Rabada’s form is for this WTC 2025 final.

And he’s in good recent form too with the red ball. In his last 13 Tests, the South African has 60 wickets at an average of 19.83 and a strike-rate of 37.4 with four five-wicket hauls.

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Australia’s Big-Match Experience Could Help

Australia have been winning big tournaments in recent years, including the WTC Final in 2023, the ODI World Cup 2023, and the T20 World Cup 2021. In this WTC cycle, Australia won 13 out of 19 Tests and beat strong teams like India, England, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

South Africa won eight out of 12, but a major criticism against them has been that their road to the final came through wins against weaker sides. Australia do well under pressure, while South Africa are famous for stumbling in big games. They have pushed to remove the ‘choker’ tag of late, but still lost big matches like the 2023 ODI World Cup semi-final and 2024 T20 World Cup final.

Both Teams Have a Good Record at Lord’s

Australia have won five of their last eight Test matches at Lord’s, and Steve Smith has scored 525 runs here in five matches. South Africa have also done exceptionally well here, winning five of the seven Tests here since readmission, and drawing one other game. Their only loss since readmission here came in 2017 against England.

Rabada and Jansen can bowl well in these conditions, but most of their batters haven’t played here since 2022. Since both teams have good all-round sides for the conditions at Lord’s, the match could be a pretty close one. Brace yourselves up for some exhilarating action!

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