LONDON: Australia batting great Steve Smith is expecting a tough examination from South Africa’s impressive pace attack in this week’s World Test Championship (WTC) final here at Lord’s.

Reigning champions Australia, who beat India in the WTC final in 2023, are favourites against the Proteas in the five-day match, which starts on Wednesday.

“South Africa have a particularly good bowling attack led by Kagiso Rabada, his record speaks for itself. Marco Jansen — they are a good side, they are here for a reason,” Smith said on Monday.

Rabada, 30, has taken 327 wickets at an average of 22 while Jansen, 25, has 73 wickets at 21.76 in his 17 matches.

But former Test captain Smith also expects conditions at Lord’s to favour spin bowling later in the game, which could work to the advantage of veteran Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon.

“I think spin will play a big part, particularly as the game wears on,” Smith added. “We’ve only been here a week, but I think it’s been pretty dry start to the season over here.

“There hasn’t there been too much rain, which is rare for England. It does look like quite a dry surface and I think the footmarks will definitely come into play as the game wears on.”

Smith has a superb Test record at Lord’s with 525 runs in five matches, including a double century and a hundred, at an average of 58.33.

“I’ve had a bit of success here,” said the 36-year-old. “It takes a bit of time getting used to the slope, one end thinking you are falling over, the other you feel a bit tall.

“It’s a nice wicket to bat on but if there’s a bit of cloud about and the balls swing around, it can get tricky.

“Batting on this surface is about just summing it up and playing what’s in front of you and being able to adapt accordingly.”

Several members of the Australia squad have not played much first-class cricket in recent months but Smith said: “All the batters feel like they’re in a good place, so now we’re just excited to go out and play.

“Lord’s is a place we traditionally played pretty good cricket, so we’re excited about the prospect of coming up against South Africa.”

Smith’s career was almost derailed by his involvement in a 2018 ball-tampering scandal against South Africa in Cape Town.

But he said relations between the two teams were now “pretty relaxed”.

There have been suggestions the WTC final should be played over several games rather than being just a one-off match.

“Maybe a three-match series would be good but good luck fitting it in the schedule, it’s pretty jam-packed as it is,” said Smith.

SOUTH AFRICA REMAIN QUIETLY CONFIDENT

Meanwhile, South Africa remain quietly confident of an upset victory in the WTC final with coach Shukri Conrad warning Australia not to underestimate his inexperienced batting line-up.

South Africa go into the five-day clash at Lord’s as underdogs but Conrad struck an optimistic tone at a press conference on Monday.

“The inexperience is very apparent in terms of the number of Tests played and their place in the ICC rankings. So, I think it’s pretty normal that the chat is all about the bowlers when you’ve got guys like Rabada, ranked two in the world, Marco and [spinner] Keshav [Maharaj],” he said.

“But I think there’s a quiet confidence among the batting group. They got a lot of confidence, with hundreds for different players at different stages. So yeah, while there might not be superstar names among them, I think as a collective were pretty confident.”

South Africa’s path to the WTC final has been questioned, given they played only 12 Tests over the two-year 2023-25 cycle while Australia played seven more. South Africa also did not meet Australia or England and booked their place with series wins over Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies.

“Enough has been spoken about that to be honest,” Conrad said. “We are here and that’s all that matters and now we get a chance to walk away as the world Test champions, playing Australia. It doesn’t get any bigger than that.

“We are quietly confident going into this game that we can pull one over them. Were a confident bunch, we play well as a unit, and if there are any vulnerabilities among them [Australia], I’m sure we’d be able to exploit that,” Conrad added.

Conrad said his side had enjoyed an “enlightening” evening with England fast bowling great Stuart Broad ahead of the big final at the game’s headquarters.

Broad bowed out of international action two years ago, having taken 604 wickets in 167 Tests, with many of his best performances reserved for arch-rivals Australia.

The 38-year-old met with the South Africans over a meal on Sunday to help with their preparations for the match against the reigning champions, starting on Wednesday.

“It was just a casual chat but if the guys hadn’t called time at 10:30pm (2130GMT) we’d still be there chatting,” Conrad told reporters. “Everybody walked away thinking that was great.”

Conrad said he also welcomed a visit to Sunday’s training session from former South Africa captain Graeme Smith.“He’s a legend in South African cricket, the most successful Test captain we have had,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2025