
Australia vs South Africa preview: Free betting tips, odds and predictions for ICC World Test Championship final
AUSTRALIA and South Africa clash in Wednesday's ICC World Test Championship at Lord's.
SunSport betting experts have previewed the contest and selected the best bets, tips and exclusive sign-up bonuses from our leading betting partners.
Australia vs South Africa preview
Lord's hosts what promises to be a cracking contest as Australia take on South Africa in the final of the ICC World Test Championship on Wednesday.
Australia, the reigning champions after defeating India at The Oval in 2023, enter the match as firm favourites, priced at 3/10 to retain their crown.
And it's not hard to see why.
The Baggy Greens, currently the top-ranked Test side in the world, arrive with the formidable core that clinched the title two years ago.
Under the leadership of Pat Cummins, Australia secured an impressive 3-1 series win over India at home earlier this year and were the standout side in the 2023–2025 WTC cycle.
They won 13 of their 19 Tests during that span and avoided defeat in all of their six series, seeing off challenges from England, Pakistan, the West Indies, New Zealand, India and Sri Lanka.
As for South Africa, this final marks their first appearance in a World Test Championship decider, having missed out in the previous cycle when finishing third.
Their path to the final has been a little different.
After drawing with India at home and suffering a 2-0 defeat away to New Zealand, the Proteas found form with wins over West Indies, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Yet critics will point out that South Africa have had a more favourable schedule - notably avoiding both Australia and England on their way to the final.
In terms of recent head-to-head encounters, there's little to draw on. Their last meeting came in January 2023, when Australia claimed a convincing 2-0 home series win.
Australia vs South Africa betting odds
Odds are correct at the time of publication and are subject to change.
South Africa preview betting tips and predictions
Steve Smith to score a century – 3/1 with bet365
The former Australian captain hasn't played since March but is raring to go as the Baggy Greens look to defend their World Test Championship title they won at the Oval two years ago, in a game where Smith scored a hundred in victory over India.
Smith has a fantastic record batting at Lord's, with an average of 58 at the home of cricket and is already on the honours board twice, after a mammoth double hundred in 2015 followed by a ton on his most recent visit to the Home of Cricket in 2023.
Kagiso Rabada to take five wickets in the match – 4/5 with bet365
The South African pace bowler has only played two Tests at Lord's in his career but has a fantastic record at the north London ground, taking 13 wickets at an average of 19, with no other player in either squad having taken more ahead of this week's WTC final.
The 30-year-old is the Proteas' leading active wicket taker with 327, and is only three short of climbing into the top four on the all-time list for South Africa, doing so with the best average out of any of the top 14 on the list.
Terms and Conditions
*Midnite: 18+ New UK customers. Bet £10 on accas with 4+ legs, min odds 3/1 (4.0). Get 4x £5 Free Bets and 50 Free Spins, valid for 7 days on selected bets and games only. T&Cs apply. BeGambleAware.org
*BetMGM: New customers only. 7 days to place qualifying bet of £10 at 1/1 (2.0) to receive 4 x £10 Free Bets: 1 x £10 football, 1 x £10 horse racing & 2 x £10 Bet Builders. Free Bets cannot be used on e-sports and non UK/IE horse racing. 7 day expiry. Exclusions apply. Stake not returned. 18+. Full T&Cs apply
*William Hill: 18+. Play Safe. From 00:01 on 18.10.2022. £30 bonus. New customers only. Minimum £10 stake on odds of 1/2 (1.5) or greater on sportsbook (excluding Virtual markets). Further terms apply.
*Tote: New customers online only. Eligibility restrictions apply. One welcome offer per customer. Bet a minimum of £/€10 at odds of 1/1 (2.0) or greater across sports or racing (if EW then min £/€10 Win + £/€10 Place) within 7 days of registration to qualify. Receive £/€20 Tote Credit, £/€10 sports Free Bet and 20 Free Spins on Big Bass Bonanza within 48 hours of qualifying bet settlement. Qualifying bet is the first racing pool or sports bet added to the bet slip. 7-day expiry. 18+. Full T&Cs apply. Gambleaware.org. Full T&Cs apply.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Telegraph
44 minutes ago
- Telegraph
TNT Sports brands rugby rebel league ‘delusional'
Power brokers at TNT Sports, England's principal rugby broadcaster, have rubbished the emergence of a proposed breakaway league, called R360, branding it 'delusional' and ' commercially unsustainable '. Telegraph Sport revealed last week how Mike Tindall, the Rugby World Cup winner and member of the Royal family, was one of the driving forces behind rugby's new breakaway global league, pitched as 'driving generational change in rugby', which is scheduled to launch later this year with a number of players reportedly having signed pre-contractual agreements which are valid until September. But the concept has been derided by both TNT Sports and Premiership Rugby, the two bodies who agreed a new television deal until the end of the 2030-31 season last month. 'I'm going to take my TNT Sports hat off just for the moment,' said Andrew Georgiou, president and managing director of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, which owns TNT. 'I've been involved in sport for 25 years. I can't tell you how many of these PowerPoint presentations have come across my desk with people who were absolutely certain that what they had on that page was going to be the new thing. It was going to be absolutely the new thing. 'I don't know the details of what's happening, no one's come to us and made a presentation, no one's told us what the new format is, no one told us what the new schedule is. I mean, I actually don't know much about it. But the one question that I think you guys should be asking is, 'how are they going to grow the revenue by putting this event on?' Where's the money coming from? The media industry is going through a massive generational change. There's been more change in the media industry in the last five years than there has been since the invention of cable television in the late 70s and early 80s. 'So, if these folks believe that they are going to grow the revenue by putting this thing on, I think they're delusional. I really do. What it will do is further complicate what is already a well-functioning rugby ecosystem. And so I would just ask some pretty fundamental questions around whether this is a commercially sustainable model. The fact that it's being likened to LIV Golf, I think is a perfect analogy. It's a perfect comparator to what this is really going to be. Commercially unsustainable.' When it was suggested that TNT Sports, therefore, would not be interested in bidding for broadcast rights on the new league, Georgiou replied: 'You bet.' Both TNT and the Premiership have experienced unprecedented growth this season. The league has seen 30 sold-out match days up from 18 last season and 13 the season before. This weekend's final, between Bath and Leicester, sold out in record time – with last season's show-piece also a full house – while growth among fans aged between 18 and 34 increased by 30 per cent in one year. Furthermore, Bath's play-off victory over Bristol last week was the most-viewed Friday night match ever on TNT. Red Bull's investment in Newcastle is understood to be nearing completion and Simon Massie-Taylor, Premiership Rugby's chief executive, believes that the league's previous financial woes are behind them and a new chapter is beginning. At board level, the Premiership will not allow itself to become distracted by R360 and Massie-Taylor has said that 'there has not been any engagement' with the breakaway league. 'It's not a threat per se,' said Massie-Taylor. 'But we have no idea how it could ever work full stop. But definitely for the club game. In England, in France, URC, southern hemisphere, how would it actually work and help develop the club game? 'But rugby needs roots, it doesn't need pop-ups. Rugby needs roots. The complicated thing about rugby is there's an international game, there's a club game that relies on, there's a community game. The whole thing's linked, the community game's inspired by both. Funding comes down to help the community game and there's this whole sort of connectedness to it. And that sometimes is an inhibitor to growth because you have to find a solution that compromises all these types of things. 'But without those roots, it's very difficult to understand how a system could ever work. The whole phrase [is] 'it takes a village', right? That one person who's going to turn up and go out on the field, there's a whole system, a whole team, a whole grass-roots network that needs to develop that person beyond just rocking up. 'I'd be worried if players are counting on that because they may miss out on genuine opportunities that exist within their club. Things need sanctioning for a start and things need money coming through the door before these people can actually get paid.'


Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Bukayo Saka to have 2+ shots on target against Senegal BOOSTED to 3/1 - with England star set to play for the first time under Thomas Tuchel
England will return to action against Senegal on Tuesday night, and will be hoping for a much-improved outing after their dour display in their 1-0 win over Andorra on Saturday. The Three Lions laboured to their victory, with Harry Kane 's goal sparing their blushes, and Thomas Tuchel questioned the attitude of his players after the match. England will be back on home soil to take on Senegal at the City Ground in Nottingham, and are set to have Bukayo Saka back in the ranks after he missed Saturday's victory with a fitness issue. The Arsenal man is yet to play under Tuchel, but that looks set to change and he appears likely to be thrown in from the start after facing the media on Monday. Sky Bet are offering three Price Boosts for the game, including Saka to have two or more shots on target at 3/1. Meanwhile, Trent Alexander-Arnold to commit at least one foul has been boosted to evens, and Kane to score 2+ goals has been enhanced from 9/2 to 6/1, Sky Bet Price Boosts for England vs Senegal Trent Alexander-Arnold to commit 1+ fouls - WAS 4/5 NOW 1/1 Bukayo Saka to have 2+ shots on target - WAS 2/1 NOW 3/1 Harry Kane to score 2+ goals WAS 9/2 NOW 6/1


The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Steven Gerrard favourite for Championship job that would see him replace former team-mate as manager
STEVEN GERRARD is the bookies' favourite to become Middlesbrough's next manager. The Liverpool legend has been out of work since leaving Al-Ettifaq in January. 1 He was linked with a return to Rangers but pulled out of the race before Russell Martin was appointed. Instead his return to management could come at Championship side Middlesbrough. If he gets the job he will succeed his former England team-mate Michael Carrick, who was sacked last week. Gerrard, 45, is the bookies' favourite to take over at the Riverside Stadium, ahead of Rob Edwards and Steve Cooper. It appears the former Three Lions star is keen on a return to the UK after an ill-fated spell in the Middle East. Gerrard lasted just 18 months at Al-Ettifaq and won 23 of his 59 matches in charge. That stint came after he was sacked at Aston Villa following a return of two wins in the opening 12 games of the 2022-23 Premier League season. His best reign came at Rangers, where he oversaw the club's first league title for nine years in 2021. He accumulated 102 points and went unbeaten in the Scottish Premier League, ending Celtic 's period of dominance. Gerrard won 65 per cent of his games in charge at Ibrox.