*Official* WTC FINAL Australia vs South Africa 2025

[Gob]

The 4 are either on the downhill side of their careers, or have their averages helped by playing a lot on familiar home conditions. They may be better than SA's greenhorns but, this is not a 2006 Australia by any stretch.

Steve Smith bat like that today to hear this? Smh

 

[BazBall21]

Well that was a depressing showing at the end. SAF's Test batting is poor and their approach was dubious. I think the idea was Mulder would try and hang in there until better batting conditions arrive for the attacking players and I get that in more general terms they aren't blessed with great options at no3, but it was an unrealistic request of him against that quality of bowling, and Bavuma's defensiveness hardly complimented him and just helped Australia settle even more. I think they could have promoted Stubbs or Bedingham with a license to try and exert some pressure onto some relentless bowling. It may not have worked, but I think it would have been a better bet than blocking.

 

[BazBall21]

I'd say the Australian batting has very high ceiling but the form of people like Marnus and Khawaja must be troublesome. Khawaja might be a little too old but I don't get Marnus at all.

Marnus is a decent player but nothing more imo. Famously wasn't very convincing even in that early splurge of runs. I think Australia and England's batting lineups are fairly similar quality with Australia having a natural advantage at home, but Australia's bowling is far superior, especially at home.

 

[Johan]

Steve Smith bat like that today to hear this? Smh

He deserves it tbf, broke a 99 year old record of Warren Bardsley just to get out to Aiden ****ing Markram.

 

[Gob]

The way SA batted today is the exact blue print of how you shouldn't face this attack. They are so good when teams are defending but gets significantly worse when they are under attack. Just ****ing slog

 

[Stefan9]

Very poor from SA. No effort to transfer pressure at all.

 

[GotSpin]

The way SA batted today is the exact blue print of how you shouldn't face this attack. They are so good when teams are defending but gets significantly worse when they are under attack. Just ****ing slog

The attack famously melts under pressure as well. There's no real plan B - Which is fine when the first plan is excellent anyway

 

[Niall]

bro they have 4 batsman averaging over 40 in the top 6. They batted like **** but its a good line up and probably better than any other line up currently going although that doesn't say much given the global batting is pretty dire now

Its not a peak Aussie batting line up , but they still have Smith who is excellent, and the likes of Head , Carey , Webster and Green who can provide cameos and in 2025 that's more than most .

I'm not totally on the "Khawaja is goosed" bandwagon like most, obviously the end is near but regarding the India series he got owned by an ATG Bumrah , no shame in that. I'd be more concerned if the English trundlers started getting him out for low figures.

 

[Red]

Thank **** you aren't a selector. Absolutely awful

Yeh well, they couldn’t have done much worse than Labuschagne and Green

 

[TheJediBrah]

I would swap out Green for Webster . . . batting is strengthen by Green with his current form (his last cc hundred was made batting at 6.)

Thank **** you aren't a selector. Absolutely awful

Ironic

No one who's watched Aus cricket over the last 12 months should be backing Green over Webster

 

[TheJediBrah]

Its not a peak Aussie batting line up , but they still have Smith who is excellent, and the likes of Head , Carey , Webster and Green who can provide cameos and in 2025 that's more than most .

I'm not totally on the "Khawaja is goosed" bandwagon like most, obviously the end is near but regarding the India series he got owned by an ATG Bumrah , no shame in that. I'd be more concerned if the English trundlers started getting him out for low figures.

I think Khawaja has been mostly done for a bit now, specifically facing decent seam bowling. Using Bumrah as an excuse, and doing great in Sri Lanka (irrelevant to opening in SENA conditions) hides it.

He never looked like surviving or thriving here, hanging back on the crease with no foot movement against decent quicks like Rabada

 

[Isura]

332 wickets @ 21.82

And he’s only 30. Imagine how many wickets he’d have if playing for Eng or even Aus.

That would mean he wouldn't get to bowl against Eng or Aus batsmen though

 

[Isura]

Surprised at the lack of 'Rabada finding those good lines again' jokes here

210 is enough for Aus to get a lead IMO. This SA batting lineup is very shallow.

SA need a 10 wicket haul from Rabada to sniff out a victory

 

[Hungry Llama]

If England had dismissed Oz for 212 on the 1st day of ashes, it would be wonderful, but then
we'd probably also be 40-4 just after 10 overs not 22.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

I think Khawaja has been mostly done for a bit now, specifically facing decent seam bowling. Using Bumrah as an excuse, and doing great in Sri Lanka (irrelevant to opening in SENA conditions) hides it.

He never looked like surviving or thriving here, hanging back on the crease with no foot movement against decent quicks like Rabada

Yeah he's elite against spin, but I think the split second reactions needed against new ball bowlers in favourable conditions are gone. Looked a bit lost against Shamar Joseph and Matt Henry the summer before Bumrah as well, and didn't seem to pick up catches quickly enough in the slips.

 

[social]

SA gets bowled out relatively cheaply

Oz piles on runs in 2nd innings

SA makes good fist of big target before falling short

 

[social]

Yeah he's elite against spin, but I think the split second reactions needed against new ball bowlers in favourable conditions are gone. Looked a bit lost against Shamar Joseph and Matt Henry the summer before Bumrah as well, and didn't seem to pick up catches quickly enough in the slips.

Father Time is undefeated

 

[Prince EWS]

[

The problem is he has barely played FC cricket , and I'm sorry but white ball can never prepare you for the grind of test cricket especially if you are injury prone.

What evidence has Ngidi shown that he can get through 20 overs a day recently ?

His last FC match was against the West Indies in August 2024 , that was 10 months ago ..

So in the last 10 months he has not played any form of FC cricket due to injury , and now he's playing a WTC final ? That's a bit naive from the coaches I reckon.

Nah I think it makes sense to give him a run in this one-off exhibition game to get some miles in his legs for the big upcoming series against Zimbabwe.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Watching Aussie batters standing leaden-footed and wafting their bats away from their body to provide catching practice behind the stumps brings back memories. Shame only Rabada can consistently hit the right lines otherwise it would've been a sub-100 total.

Pre-Bazball memories before England pumped out flat decks to help their bats swing across the line?

 

[Son Of Coco]

That ICC Fantasy Points rubbish they've just put up, how on earth does a bloke scoring 72 get the same amount of points as a fella taking a fivefer?

I assume it takes into account the difficulty of doing each.