Lords is the venue for the World Test Championship Final between South Africa and Australia, the game gets under way on Wednesday and we take a look at the squads, recent form and the all important betting
Let's start with the squads.
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (capt), David Bedingham, Corbin Bosch, Tony de Zorzi, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Lungi Ngidi, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne
Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster
South Africa Recent Form
The Proteas are on a 7 match winning streak in the test match format. Their most recent action came in a 2 match home series against Pakistan either side of the new year and they won the first match by 2 wickets and the second by 10 wickets.
In November / December South Africa won both test matches at home to Sri Lanka, coming out on top by margins of 233 runs and 109 runs. A tour of Bangladesh in October saw South Africa win both tests, the first by 7 wickets and the second by an innings and 273 runs. In August they drew the first of 2 tests in the West Indies and then won the second by 40 runs.
Australia Recent Form
Australia's most recent test match action came in Sri Lanka in Jan / Feb this year and they won both matches by margins of an innings and 242 runs and then 9 wickets.
A 5 match series at home to India in November and December saw Australia recover from losing the first match with 3 wins and 1 draw to close out the series.
Recent Head to Head
The teams haven't met since Dec 2022 Jan 2023 when Australia won a 3 match home series 2-0.
In March 2018 in South Africa the Proteas won a 4 match series 3-1
The Venue, Lords, London
The last 7 test matches at this venue (all teams) have delivered a win for either side and we haven't seen a draw since England took on New Zealand in June 2021.
South Africa were last at Lords in August 2022 when they beat England by an innings and 12 runs.
In the 2023 Lords Ashes test Australia beat England by 43 runs.
For the weather forecast click here
The Betting
At the time of writing South Africa are 24/10 to win with the draw at 9.5/1 and Australia can be backed at 4/10
Sportingbet price boosts include Kagiso Rabada to be top SA bowler in the 1st innings at 2/1 from 13/8 and Ryan Rickleton to be top SA batsman in the 1st innings at 9/2 from 7/2.
Prices subject to change
The Verdict
The Proteas have been in great test match form but that looks a very strong Australian squad and it will take something special to beat them.
I'm looking at the first innings bowler markets and will give the vote to Marco Jansen when the Proteas have ball in hand
Having seen a report that Cam Green could take the No 3 slot in the Aus batting line up he could be a value price to top score for his side in the first knock.
Bet: 1st Innings Top SA Bowler Marco Jansen at 9/4 with Sportingbet
1st Innings Top Australian Batsmen Cam Green at 6.25/1 with Sportingbet
Prices subject to change
