South Africa ‘very confident’ of chasing down target on challenging pitch

Cliff Notes – South Africa ‘very confident’ of chasing down target on challenging pitch

• South Africa’s David Bedingham expressed strong belief in the team’s ability to chase down Australia’s target in the World Test Championship final, highlighting their excitement and confidence in the dressing room.
• The match has seen significant fast bowling dominance, with Pat Cummins achieving 6 for 28, while South Africa’s seamers capitalised on favourable conditions to restrict Australia to a challenging score.

South Africa ‘very confident’ of chasing down target on challenging pitch

South Africa will approach their fourth-innings chase in the World Test Championship (WTC_ final at Lord’s with “belief” and remain “very confident” of their ability to reach whatever target Australia set for them, according to batter David Bedingham.

June 13 could become a historic day for South African cricket if Temba Bavuma’s team can defeat Australia to win the WTC and claim a first ICC title since the 1998 Knockout Trophy. In the past, they have succumbed to nerves in the big matches, the latest instance coming in the 2024 T20 World Cup final.

The run-chase already looks like being a challenging one. For the second successive day at Lord’s, 14 wickets fell with fast bowlers again dominating play on a seamer-friendly pitch. Pat Cummins followed Kagiso Rabada in etching his name on the honours board, while also entering the 300-wickets club after his 6 for 28 blew away South African batting.

Bedingham, who was the leading scorer for South Africa with a stoic 45 from 111 deliveries, doffed his hat to Cummins, but said that Bavuma’s men were ready to grasp the opportunity to become the world champions. “It’s just an amazing chance and we are all very, very excited about the opportunity to win,” Bedingham said after play. “Could go either way, but us as a team we are very, very excited and there’s a lot of belief in the dressing room.”

South African seamers utilised the overcast conditions mid-afternoon to shock Australia, who at one point were reeling at 73 for 7 before Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc brought them back into the game. Bedingham said the bowlers’ performance certainly would act as a catalyst in pursuit of the victory. “It’s an amazing day. When they started batting in their third innings, we would’ve definitely taken 220 for 8. So we are very confident, there’s a massive belief in this team.”

Cummins said Australia would have ideally been happier with a few more wickets “in the shed”, but he pointed out that batting remained difficult. “The trend of the game is the runs are coming down. It’s still pretty difficult out there, so it’s set up pretty well for a day-three finish, you’d imagine, tomorrow, but we are going to have to bowl well still in the fourth innings.”

Several among Australia’s top order are bound to be disappointed for failing for the second time in successive days, though Cummins did not want to focus on that. Instead, he suggested anything over 200 would be a challenging target to chase.

“When I walked out anything over 200, so good to get over that, but you just want to get as many runs as you can. So, happy we’ve got 200, hopefully we get another 20 or 30 in the morning. That’d be good. That’d give us a few more options to bowl a few more aggressive fields.”

The procession of wickets, and collapses across all three innings, might be seen to tarnish a marquee final. Cummins, though, felt the Lord’s pitch had offered a good balance between bat and ball. “I think it’s pretty close to 50-50. It’s a pretty good Test match. That’s the beauty you get [where] all Test matches look a little bit different, but whenever there’s a pretty good balance between bat and ball, it’s always a pretty good match. This game, some guys have got themselves in and looked pretty comfortable out there and obviously a lot of other guys haven’t, so it’s been a pretty good balance.”

As to why batting has been difficult, Cummins said that was due to the discipline of both fast bowling attacks. “It’s a mixture of the wicket still doing a little bit. It feels like just when it’s not doing anything one ball will suddenly seam quite drastically. But both teams bowled really well, really disciplined, haven’t bowled too many half-volleys. Both teams are kind of just hanging in that good length area, pretty tight line.”

Bedingham agreed with Cummins but was optimistic about batting getter easier on the third day. “When you have six quality seamers on a tricky pitch it obviously makes batting tough. The way the game’s going, the wicket’s slowed down a bit, so the nicks won’t carry. So in the fourth innings they’ll maybe come a bit straighter and that will probably be the danger on that type of wicket, but hopefully we can get those runs.”

Knowing the target, Bedingham agreed, would help South Africa to continue batting with intent, something they showed a bit more compared to the timidity on display late on Wednesday afternoon. “The main thing is just to 100 percent commit if you are defending or attacking. As soon as you get caught in two minds against these [bowling] attacks, you get found wanting.”