Cummins locks in Smith’s batting slot for WTC Final
The Australia skipper confirmed which position the Australian talisman will be batting at in the Ultimate Test against South Africa, starting 11 June at Lord’s.
With the ICC World Test Championship Final 2025 fast approaching, Australia have zeroed in on an important batting decision.
With multiple alternatives in contention to take the centre-stage, skipper Pat Cummins has named batting icon Steve Smith to occupy a crucial spot in the middle order.
In a recent conversation with The Grade Cricketer on Prime Video Australia, Cummins stated, “I can confirm that Smudge will be batting at four. Everyone else, I’m not willing to, but I can confirm Steve Smith will be number four.”
Smith, who has batted most of his Test career at number four, boasts 6531 runs from 120 Test innings at the slot, averaging 61.61. This includes 23 centuries and 26 fifties.
The veteran batter had also starred in Australia’s triumph in the previous WTC Final in 2023, scoring a first-innings century that helped set the tone for a big win.
Highlights – Smith piles on the runs with trademark century | WTC23 Final
Highlights – Steve Smith scored his 31st Test century to pile on India's troubles in the ICC World Test Championship Final 2023.
As they prepare to defend the WTC mace, Cummins opened up on the prospect of becoming the first team to do so since the inception of the tournament in 2019.
“After winning (in) 2023, there's a lot of talk of trying to retain it. Go and defend it. It's not tangible until you actually make the final.
“Now that we've made it, it'll be pretty cool to win another ICC trophy. Playing at Lord's, it's a tournament that every other Test playing nation is vying for so, it just signifies a pretty good couple of years.”
The Australian captain also highlighted the significance of the tournament and the challenges it presented.
“I think it shows performance over two years. But there are varying conditions. Even in ICC World Cups, it's normally very similar conditions.
“A Test tournament, you've got to go and win basically everything at home, but for us, we had to go to Sri Lanka and win in really tough spinning conditions.
“Go over to New Zealand, and beat a really strong side at home. So, I think it shows that you've really got to be a complete team over a couple year stretch to make the final.
“We just missed out that first year (2019-2021), but I think we are a better side now than we were back then. We lost a couple of games at home. But, yeah, I think two (WTC titles) would be incredible. One, I think, is still a pretty good demonstration of how good we've been over the past few years.”
Ricky Ponting picks his Australia XI for the World Test Championship Final
The former Australia captain names the squad he believes should take on South Africa in the WTC Final.
While Australia will be featuring in their second successive WTC final, South Africa made it to their first by topping the World Test Championship standings.
Cummins showered praise on the Proteas, and believes the Temba Bavuma-led side have multiple match-winners in their midst to pose a challenge.
“They always seem to compete in every tournament. They've got a lot of experience, especially the white-ball teams - they play across different franchise leagues. Rabada, Maharaj, Bavuma, they've played a lot of cricket over the years.
“They have really good fast bowlers, they always seem to have not just one or two main guys but they have got four-six guys they can call.
“And yeah, some batters, you haven't seen much (of them) but they've scored plenty of domestic runs. (We have) played most of the guys in the squad, certainly not everyone. There's always a little bit of mystique around South Africa, because we don't play them as often as say India.”
The World Test Championship Final between Australia and South Africa will kickstart on 11 June at the Lord’s Cricket Ground.