Australia to play South Africa in the 2025 World Test Championship finale at the iconic Lord’s, starting June 11. The Pat Cummins-led side has defeated India to lift the trophy in 2023 and will be defending the title this time around. Ahead of that, senior spinner Nathan Lyon noted the importance of the game, highlighting that the players are motivated to register a win and establish themselves as one of the greatest Australian teams to play Test cricket.
“It is important that we look at this week as a celebration piece. We’ve done incredibly well over the last couple of years, at home and away, and that is something that as a team, we should be really proud of. In my eyes, we’re on a journey to becoming a great Australian team. We’re not there yet, I’m well aware of that, but that’s our goal too. This game is another step up that ladder,” Lyon was quoted as saying by the ICC.
Lyon also expects Australia to put up a strong fight in the WTC final. He expects the Temba Bavuma-led side to put them under pressure at some point, and for the same reason, Lyon wants Australia to fix all the issues immediately and stay ready for the contest. He also lauded the Proteas for their success in red-ball cricket lately.
“Yes, we’ve been here before, but South Africa qualified first during this World Test Championship. Throughout these two years, they’ve done something really well to finish top, and so they deserve that home changing room leading into this game. It’s international cricket. We’re expecting an extremely hard challenge and there’s going to be a lot of problems out there, but we’re going to have to be good enough to solve those problems ASAP.”
Notably, Lyon has taken 56 wickets against South Africa in 18 matches and will be hoping to keep up with the momentum.