South Africa’s captain Temba Bavuma won the toss and chose to bowl first, hoping his fast bowlers can take early wickets in the World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord’s on Wednesday.
Cloudy skies at the start of the first day influenced Temba Bavuma’s decision to bowl first. He said the weather conditions would help the bowlers, especially with the new ball.
South Africa are depending heavily on their pace bowlers for success in the final. Their strong bowling line-up, including Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, and spinner Keshav Maharaj, will be key since their batting side lacks experience.
Meanwhile, Australian captain Pat Cummins said his team was fine with batting first.
“It looks like a good pitch, and cloudy weather at the start is quite usual in England. I think it will become drier as the match goes on and help the spinners,” he said.
Both teams revealed their playing XIs a day before the match. Australia brought back Cameron Green and Josh Hazlewood after injuries. South Africa surprised everyone with a change in their batting order.
With Green playing, Marnus Labuschagne will move up to open the innings. Hazlewood replaces Scott Boland in the bowling line-up.
Cameron Green had a stress fracture in his lower back during the ODI series in England last year. He had surgery in October but made his return in April, playing for Gloucestershire in county cricket.
Josh Hazlewood had a calf injury and didn’t play in Australia’s last Test match, which was in Sri Lanka in February.
South Africa made a few changes to their team. They moved Wiaan Mulder up the batting order to number 3 and picked Lungi Ngidi for their bowling attack. He was chosen ahead of 36-year-old Dane Paterson, who has been playing county cricket for Middlesex.
Ngidi hasn’t played in South Africa’s last seven Test matches, even though the team won all of those games to reach the WTC final.
Mulder has only batted at number 3 twice before. He usually bats at number 7, where he scored his only Test century, which came in Bangladesh last October.
Australia won the last World Test Championship final against India at The Oval two years ago. New Zealand were the first team to win the WTC in 2021.
