Incongruity of World Test Championship final fails to dampen Australian excitement | Geoff Lemon

It may be a strange time of year for an Australian, and a strange tournament structure, but the decider is vindicated further each time it is played

In Australia it is winter, and it is footy season. AFL, NRL, the works. The autumn was passing strange, with unnervingly high temperatures and the Gold Coast Suns in the top four. But now it is June, and feeling more as it should, with nights in the southern half of the continent dipping deep into single degrees. The Raiders must be breathing out steam on Canberra mornings, half remembering dreams of ending a premiership wait. And strangely positioned among all this, the Australia Test team is getting ready to play cricket.

Australian winter tours happen, but outside the occasional Asian or Caribbean jaunt this century, they’re confined to quadrennial visits to England. Two years ago, the first time Australia qualified for a World Test Championship final, that match came directly before an Ashes series. As well as turning the supposed culmination into an incongruous appetizer, it also made the WTC final melt into the Ashes summer.

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Pat Cummins: ‘We want to play hard and fair, and I think we’ve got it right’

The Australia captain talks about leading the side against South Africa and not getting too big for his boots – but plays a dead bat regarding the Bairstow dismissal at Lord’s

As Pat Cummins opens up at the pavilion end, while gazing across the vast empty space of Lord’s a few days before Australia face South Africa in the World Test Championship final, it’s clear that the unexpected opponents this week have helped to frame his remarkable career.

On Wednesday morning, while towering a foot over Temba Bavuma, his 5ft 3in South African counterpart, Cummins will lead Australia for the 34th time, in his 68th Test. The fast bowler stands at the summit of world cricket, his grizzled matinee idol charm allied to the grit which has helped him to become such a successful captain. Australia have won almost everything during his tenure of three and a half years and they are expected to retain their Test title.

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Heartache turns to hope as South Africa seek to shake ‘chokers’ tag in WTC final | Daniel Gallan

The Proteas choking when it matters most is a tale as old as the country itself as history again weighs heavy on their World Test Championship hopes

A South African cricket fan’s standout World Cup catastrophe will depend on when they were born. Baby boomers cite the time, back in 1992, when Brian McMillan was left needing 22 runs off one ball after rain in Sydney washed away any hope of a chase. Millennials are forever haunted by Alan Donald’s dropped bat in that tied semi-final in 1999. Gen Zs must still be wondering how Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller failed to get over the line with 30 needed off as many balls in last year’s T20 final.

The Proteas choking when it matters most is a tale as old as the country itself. Longer, in fact, if you consider that Nelson Mandela was elected president two years after this story began. And throughout it all, one antagonist has loomed largest.

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England beat West Indies by four wickets: second men’s T20 – as it happened

The hosts took a decisive 2-0 lead in the T20 series by chasing down the West Indies total of 196

He’s got him first ball! A snorter of a yorker beats Lewis for pace and bangs him right in front. The batter reviews but it’s more in hope than anything. Maybe he thought he made contact with the ball as he attempted to dig it out, but there’s a gap between leather and willow. A stunning start for Wood and England.

The players are now geared up and ready to roll.

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‘Bowling the best I have’: Josh Hazlewood stakes claim for WTC final spot

  • 34-year-old giving selectors headaches after strong form in IPL

  • Australia fast bowler missed last World Test Championship decider

Buoyed by an outstanding IPL, Australia quick Josh Hazlewood feels he is bowling better than at any point in his decorated career.

Struck down by niggling injuries in recent years, Hazlewood could be forgiven for starting to taper having already taken 279 wickets from 72 Tests.

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