South Africa v Australia: World Test Championship final cricket, day one
Update:
Date: 2025-06-11T08:30:15.000Z
Title: Preamble
Content: Hello and welcome to live coverage of the first day of the World Test Championship final between Australia and South Africa.
The ICC's red-ball showcase might still be some distance short of becoming the pinnacle of the format but the hype will be real once Australia and South Africa step onto Lord's to renew their one-time fierce rivalry. Australia are out to become the first side to retain the title (which, admittedly, will only be awarded for the third time), while South Africa have more than just silverware – in this case, the WTC mace – on the line after three decades of pain and suffering at the pointy end of global cricket tournaments.
South Africa secured their place in the decider – somewhat surprisingly – as the No 1 side across the two-year WTC cycle. The Proteas arguably made the most of a friendly fixture as they avoided crossing paths with the defending champions, as well as England, and only faced two-time runners-up India in a tied home series. But they could now respond to the critics of their path to the final in the most satisfying way.
South Africa have in fact only met their old foes Australia in a single Test series – for three matches away in 2022-23 – in the past seven years, in one of all too many signs of the ever-widening divide that now exists between cricket's 'Big Three' and the remainder of the Test-playing nations. But the winner-takes-all WTC final at Lord's feels like neither the time nor the place to be laying out all that has gone wrong with the purists' preferred format, especially with play due to start in an hour.
First ball will be at 10.30am local time or 7.30pm AEST / 11.30am SAST. The toss will take place 30 minutes before that. I'll be seeing us through to drinks in the second session, when the tone will inevitably shift as self-confessed South Africa tragic, Dan Gallan, takes the reins.
Get in touch with any comments, questions, thoughts and predictions – shoot me an email or find me @martinpegan on Bluesky or X. Let's get into it!
The #WTC25 Final is here, and you can watch every ball and match-winning moment as South Africa face Australia 📺Where to watch: https://t.co/DA3Av9WSkU pic.twitter.com/tVbx2wAIol
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