Latest news with #SobhaPOTD
Int'l Cricket Council
2 days ago
- Sport
- Int'l Cricket Council
On the backfoot, Australia keep focus on winning WTC Final
At 70/2 in the second session of the third day of the ICC World Test Championship Final 2025, Australia seemed to have advantage on a surface that had done quite a bit over the first two days of the Test. However, as the pitch kept offering more to the batters, Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma showed exceptional resolve to help the Proteas within reach of a historic win. With the African side needing merely 69 runs with eight wickets in hand going into Day 4, Australia understand that they are on the backfoot, but take confidence from the fact that they've aced similar challenges in the past. Markram, Bavuma guide SA within touching distance of glory | Day 3 Highlights | WTC25 Final After bundling out Australia in the first session, South Africa finish Day 3 only 69 runs away from a historic triumph with eight wickets in hand. 'We understand the main task, 8/70 [69] is incredibly tricky, and conditions wouldn't have to go our way, but I think with the nature of where the ball is at and the surface, it's a difficult task,' Vettori told reporters after the day's play. Whether it be the Ashes Test at Edgbaston in 2023, where Australia took a target of 281 after having been 227/8 or the famous ICC Men's Cricket World Cup heist in Mumbai, where they chased down Afghanistan's massive total after having been 91/7 at one stage, the Australians have shown immense skill when faced with adversity, and Vettori hoped the same could stand out tomorrow too. 'But it is a task that the group has probably done at times throughout the last three or four, and for some of them, even longer six or seven years,' the recently inducted ICC Hall of Famer continued. Aiden Markram powers his way to a majestic ton | Sobha POTD, Day 3 | WTC25 Final 130625 - Aiden Markram - POTD (2025-06-13 17:16:36Z) Having said the same, Vettori went on to appreciate Markram and Bavuma's application, stating that the duo made most of the conditions on Day 3 at Lord's. 'The wicket is slow. And you would've seen over the course of the game, that the boundaries are probably lower than what we would've expected than previous Test matches here. So it is difficult scoring here, but South Africa made the most of those [improved] conditions here," he added. 'Exceptional partnership. Navigated any tricky times, and then managed to put pressure back on us, through their running, their ability to dissect the field. 'It was a real clinic from those two.' Temba Bavuma plays a picture-perfect straight drive | Sobha POTD, Day 3 | WTC25 Final While South Africa will be pleased with their outing, the Proteas have had a history of heartbreaks close to the finish line, best exemplified in the 1999 Cricket World Cup semi-final, where they missed out on a berth to the final after tying with Australia, and more recently against India at last year's ICC Men's T20 World Cup, where the side failed to win the final after needing just run-a-ball from their final five overs. However, Vettori assured that Australia weren't taking this South African group for granted, and would look to keep their focus on one wicket at a time. 'It is always difficult to label or tag teams, because teams change. And with change of personnel, it is difficult to assign to a group that hasn't been in this situation in terms of World Test Championship Final," Vettori added. 'I think the hope for us is that we get a wicket or two in the morning, and then see what it looks like. That's the main challenge for us.' Starc claims Mulder to produce another breakthrough | WTC25 Final Mitchell Starc rises to the occasion once again for Australia to break the second-wicket partnership as he removed Wiaan Mulder. Having found success in the first innings, Australia tried to stick to the same lengths on Day 3, but found little success. When asked if the bowlers could've tried something different like cutters or yorkers, Vettori responded that the team decided to work on what worked best for them, and avoided adventurous bowling in order to prevent South Africa from running away with the game. 'Someone like Mitch Starc, he does that naturally, in his ability to change his lengths. Potentially swing the ball both ways," Vettori noted. 'There is sometimes an appetite for that, but there is a concern for score running away from us. Sometimes when you go for short ball stuff, it is difficult to control the scoreboard. '[We believed that ] if we could hang on in those areas, something would happen, like in rest of the Test but it wasn't to be.' The Ultimate Test draws closer to an exciting finish as South Africa and Australia will battle it out yet again on Day 4 at Lord's on Saturday, 14 June.
Int'l Cricket Council
3 days ago
- Sport
- Int'l Cricket Council
Ponting reveals Marco Jansen's cricketing superpower
Marco Jansen is one of cricket's tallest players, but his talent stands out in equal doses. As has been highlighted, he starred early for the Proteas, forming a formidable fast bowling tandem with Kagiso Rabada that wreaked all kinds of havoc on Australia's top order in the World Test Championship Final's first day. It was Rabada that claimed more of the plaudits with yet another five-wicket haul at Lord's, but Jansen's bowling was equally as impressive. The left-armer finished with 3/49 from 14 overs and his scalps included Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head. A finger injury while fielding on day two threatened to curtail his day, though a return to the bowling crease soon after proved he was unimpeded, removing Marnus Labuschagne for 22. Marco Jansen gets the big wicket of Travis Head | WTC25 Final South Africa's Marco Jansen traps Travis Head on the final bowl before Lunch on Day 1. Jansen, still just 25, broke into the Proteas' Test side in December 2021, such were the raps on him. He hasn't yet looked back in the game's longest format, but all the while has emerged as a world beater in white-ball cricket too. Jansen plied his trade with the Punjab Kings in the 2025 IPL, consistently taking breakthrough wickets and occasionally scoring important runs. His domestic campaign in India gave cricketing royalty Ricky Ponting a close-up perspective on the all-rounder, and Ponting is unsurprised that South Africa's towering talent has stood out at Lord's. Marco Jansen completes a brilliant juggling catch | Sobha POTD, Day 1 | WTC25 Final Marco Jansen juggled thrice but held on in the end to get rid of the dangerous Steve Smith on Day 1 of the World Test Championship 2023-25 Final. 'He's pretty quiet and pretty laid back,' he told ICC Digital after day one of the WTC Final. 'Nothing really affects him too much. Regardless of if he's had a great day or not such a great day, he remains the same person. 'Whether that's internally and the way that he thinks about the game or the way that he is around the dressing room. But I think like most South Africans, you can tell there's an ultra competitive streak inside him. 'And once he gets out on the field, then it's game on.' Jansen credited Ponting's coaching at the Punjab Kings, having helped to evolve the South African's mental approach to the game. 'I learned a lot from him,' Jansen told ICC Digital before the World Test Championship decider. 'Especially from a mental point of view. He's always positive, he always tries to see or sees the good stuff instead of the bad stuff, if that makes sense. And I think that's why he's a legend of the game, because you always lean towards what could happen instead of what could go wrong. He's helped a lot in that regard.' Ponting expects Jansen to take his game to even loftier heights in the next World Test Championship cycle, saying there's no ceiling on where he might get to as a multi-faceted contributor. 'I think he's going to… be one of the best all-rounders in Test match cricket in the world in the next couple of years,' Ponting continued. 'I've loved working with him and I just think he's an extreme talent that is still so young in his international career.' Rabada and Jansen tear into the Aussie tail | WTC25 Final South Africa quicks Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen make short work of Australia's tailenders in the first innings.
