'This team is different': Proteas dismiss old failures
Star batter Aiden Markram insists South Africa have "buried" the heartbreaking results they've endured in previous ICC finals.
Despite winning seven matches in a row to qualify, the Proteas arrive at Lord's for the World Test Championship final against Australia as underdogs.
No.1 ranked Australia are gunning for back-to-back WTC trophies, having beaten India in the 2023 decider.
But South Africa's history in ICC tournaments is a sorry one, having never lifted a ODI or T20 World Cup.
The Proteas have lost all five ODI World Cup semi-finals, and were defeated by India in the T20 decider last year.
Markram believes South Africa's previous performances in big games will count for little once the one-off Test begins on Wednesday.
"This team is a bit different. Very different personnel to what the white-ball squad," Markram said at Lord's on Sunday.
"We haven't addressed it too much. A few of us that have been part of previous ICC events that didn't go our way have dealt with it, chatted to each other and make sure we've buried it nicely.
"It's more about the excitement of having another opportunity to actually do the job.
"If we play good cricket, we'll give ourselves a fairly good chance of winning."
South Africa never have the luxury of starting a tour slowly, having not played more than two Tests in a series since they travelled to Australia in 2022-23.
On the other hand, Australia had to reel in a 1-0 deficit against India last summer to win the Border-Gavaskar trophy for the first time in a decade.
Australia allrounder Beau Webster believed his side had probably earned the right to be favourites.
"When you look at the guys in our dressing room and what they've accomplished, not just in this World Test cycle, but obviously in their careers, it's pretty amazing," Webster said.
"The cattle we've got in our dressing room, I'm sure everyone's going in very confident into this Test.
"We've got a very good record at Lord's, both individually with a few of our players, and as a collective the record here is good.
"So everyone's going in with a lot of confidence."
This AAP article was made possible by support from Amazon Prime Video, which is broadcasting the World Test Championship final.
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