Early start leaves Lord’s finalists nervy over composition of line-ups

The Proteas have long been mindful of the conditions they will face in the World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord’s next week; be it the weather, the Dukes ball or the slope.

It’s why they’ve been careful not to read too much into the outcomes — runs scored and wickets taken — of their match in Arundel against Zimbabwe, where they are using a Dukes ball, there is no slope like at Lord’s, though the weather has been characteristically crap.

No play was possible because of rain for what would have been the third day of their warm-up match on Thursday and it may lead some to question why so much stock was put in having the fixture. Temba Bavuma described warm-up matches as largely a waste of time, but even he would have found some value in making 58 on Wednesday. 

For the rest this was about rhythm, with the mindset stuff kicking into gear once they get to London at the weekend. The conditions at Lord’s are of great interest to both WTC finalists, mainly because it’s unusual for either side to play a match at that historic venue this early in June. 

The last time Australia did so was in 1921, while for South Africa, in seven Tests at Lord’s after isolation, only once have they played at a date as close to next week’s June 11 start. That was in 1998 when a century from Jonty Rhodes and a five wicket haul for Allan Donald set up a 10-wicket win. For the rest they’ve either played there in late June, July or August as was case for the Proteas’ last trip to Lord’s in 2023.    

“We haven't played a lot of cricket at Lord’s in June so we’re going have to make some educated guesses on what the game potentially will look like and that’ll generally inform our selection,” said Australian coach Andrew McDonald. 

His side had a team-bonding session in Inverness, Scotland last week and have been conducting some spirited training sessions in Bromley, having forgone the option of a warm-up match. 

They, like South Africa, face questions about the composition of their top order; for the Proteas it’s about who will bat at No 3, while Australia is weighing up options for an opener to accompany Usman Khawaja. 

Wiaan Mulder batted at 3 in Arundel, a spot he batted in twice last summer, though not with any great success. He was trapped lbw for 28 on Wednesday and given the quality of the Australian attack and Dukes ball that nips and swings more than its Kookaburra cousin — which both South Africa and Australia use at home — it is a big risk. 

The Proteas feel they will need Mulder’s bowling and though Shukri Conrad made Tristan Stubbs his No 3 batter last year, it now appears that the head coach feels Stubbs might be better suited to the middle order.

Batting coach Ashwell Prince offered little about South Africa’s tactics, saying Mulder was being prepared in case that was the way they would go, but all options, including Tony de Zorzi, who batted at No 6 against Zimbabwe, remain on the table. 

McDonald expressed a similar sentiment about Australia, who are understood to be considering Marnus Labuschagne as Khawaja’s opening partner, with Cameron Green their new option for the No 3 berth.

“The batters ... really, it's about how we want to shape that order, they're all viable options depending on how we want to stack them up,” said McDonald.

“We try to make the right decisions at the right time and we're a few days off having to make that decision, so we'll just be trying to prepare everyone for that opportunity.”

South Africa’s bowlers didn’t get the workout they’d hoped for on Thursday — having bowled just 11 overs the previous evening — and they will want the weather to clear in the coming days to allow them to get much needed miles in the legs before next Wednesday.