Three key duels that could decide the WTC final at Lord’s

London — The Proteas meet Australia in the World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord’s from Wednesday.

Here are three key battles that could decide who will become the kings of Test cricket: 

Alex Carey vs Kyle Verreynne

The last time Carey played at Lord’s he was at the centre of controversy for running out Jonny Bairstow. There was a sense that in the aftermath his game suffered, but with the bat he was Australia’s fourth-highest run-scorer in the last 2023-25 WTC cycle. He’s a typically assertive Australian wicketkeeper/batter and his work behind the stumps complements one of Test cricket’s great attacks. Carey averaged 35.33 in that period, very similar to Kyle Verreyne’s 37.53 for the Proteas, though the latter has played less than half the number of Test innings over the same period. But Verreynne’s value to SA grew last season and as Wednesday looms, he’ll be expected to make a big impact in front and behind the stumps.

Kagiso Rabada vs Steve Smith 

There was the shoulder brush, there was sandpaper and there has also been four dismissals by Rabada of one of the great modern batters. He got the former Australian captain out twice in the SA 2016 series victory Down Under and the two bumped shoulders after Smith was dismissed lbw in Gqeberha, leading to a suspension that was subsequently overturned, and which all led to bits of sandpaper in pockets. How the battle is settled will go a long way towards deciding this match’s outcome. Though Rabada has had success against him, Smith made a hundred the last time they met in Sydney two years ago. After all his troubles in the past few months, Rabada will be sniffing out Smith’s wicket to give his side a leg up in the WTC final.

Keshav Maharaj vs Travis Head

This will be about control and patience for Maharaj against one of the most devastating batters of the past five years. Head has had his fun with SA in the one-day format, but only played one Test series against them in 2022/23 when he made three half-centuries in four innings. His 92 on a green snake pit in Brisbane was good enough to earn him player of the match in a two-day affair. Maharaj will likely end up bowling many deliveries at him, and somehow needs to ensure Head’s customary scoring rate doesn’t take the game away from SA the way it did in Brisbane, and how it has done many times to teams recently, notably the last WTC final against India in 2023. Head was also player of the match then after scoring 163 off 174 balls.