On the backfoot, Australia keep focus on winning WTC Final

At 70/2 in the second session of the third day of the ICC World Test Championship Final 2025, Australia seemed to have advantage on a surface that had done quite a bit over the first two days of the Test.

However, as the pitch kept offering more to the batters, Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma showed exceptional resolve to help the Proteas within reach of a historic win.

With the African side needing merely 69 runs with eight wickets in hand going into Day 4, Australia understand that they are on the backfoot, but take confidence from the fact that they’ve aced similar challenges in the past.

“We understand the main task, 8/70 [69] is incredibly tricky, and conditions wouldn’t have to go our way, but I think with the nature of where the ball is at and the surface, it’s a difficult task,” Vettori told reporters after the day’s play.

Whether it be the Ashes Test at Edgbaston in 2023, where Australia took a target of 281 after having been 227/8 or the famous ICC Men's Cricket World Cup heist in Mumbai, where they chased down Afghanistan’s massive total after having been 91/7 at one stage, the Australians have shown immense skill when faced with adversity, and Vettori hoped the same could stand out tomorrow too.

“But it is a task that the group has probably done at times throughout the last three or four, and for some of them, even longer six or seven years,” the recently inducted ICC Hall of Famer continued.

Having said the same, Vettori went on to appreciate Markram and Bavuma’s application, stating that the duo made most of the conditions on Day 3 at Lord’s.

“The wicket is slow. And you would’ve seen over the course of the game, that the boundaries are probably lower than what we would’ve expected than previous Test matches here. So it is difficult scoring here, but South Africa made the most of those [improved] conditions here," he added.

“Exceptional partnership. Navigated any tricky times, and then managed to put pressure back on us, through their running, their ability to dissect the field.

“It was a real clinic from those two.”

While South Africa will be pleased with their outing, the Proteas have had a history of heartbreaks close to the finish line, best exemplified in the 1999 Cricket World Cup semi-final, where they missed out on a berth to the final after tying with Australia, and more recently against India at last year's ICC Men's T20 World Cup, where the side failed to win the final after needing just run-a-ball from their final five overs.

However, Vettori assured that Australia weren’t taking this South African group for granted, and would look to keep their focus on one wicket at a time.

“It is always difficult to label or tag teams, because teams change. And with change of personnel, it is difficult to assign to a group that hasn’t been in this situation in terms of World Test Championship Final," Vettori added.

“I think the hope for us is that we get a wicket or two in the morning, and then see what it looks like. That’s the main challenge for us.”

Having found success in the first innings, Australia tried to stick to the same lengths on Day 3, but found little success.

When asked if the bowlers could’ve tried something different like cutters or yorkers, Vettori responded that the team decided to work on what worked best for them, and avoided adventurous bowling in order to prevent South Africa from running away with the game.

“Someone like Mitch Starc, he does that naturally, in his ability to change his lengths. Potentially swing the ball both ways," Vettori noted.

“There is sometimes an appetite for that, but there is a concern for score running away from us. Sometimes when you go for short ball stuff, it is difficult to control the scoreboard.

“[We believed that ] if we could hang on in those areas, something would happen, like in rest of the Test but it wasn’t to be.”

The Ultimate Test draws closer to an exciting finish as South Africa and Australia will battle it out yet again on Day 4 at Lord’s on Saturday, 14 June.