Nathan Lyon opened up on the challenges for Australia to retain their Test mace in the World Test Championship final of the 2023-25 cycle at Lord’s against South Africa next week. The star spinner claimed that the Proteas possess world-class batters and unbelievable bowlers. He felt the one-off Test would be a different challenge given the neutral conditions and Dukes ball.
The world-class spinner, who was at the Australian training in Beckenham on Thursday, felt it would be a battle of two of the best bowling attacks in the world, and hence felt it could be very challenging for the batters.
“South Africa has got some world-class batters and obviously they’ve got some unbelievable bowlers there as well, so it’s going to be a good challenge and obviously it’s a one-off Test match. It’s going to be a different challenge and with foreign conditions and the Dukes ball. It’s going to be two best bowling attacks going at each other, which is another exciting thing, so it’s going to be a good challenge for all batters,” Lyon said.
David Bedingham is a special player: Lyon
The right-arm spinner mentioned that batters like Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, and David Bedingham could pose a threat to the Australian attack. Lyon felt the need to enjoy the game and do the basics right.
“They’ve got some class players, as I said, with the likes of Aiden Markram, Rickelton at the top of the order there, they’re class players, there’s no point in hiding behind that fact either. I played against Bedingham last year here in county cricket, and he’s a special player, so at the end of the day it’s going to be guys who do the basics…and enjoy the pressure moments,” Lyon added.
South Africa will play their maiden WTC final and have a tough challenge ahead to beat the defending champions. Australia is only the second team to play the WTC Final twice, after India. In 2023, they beat India to win their maiden Test mace, the defence of which will begin from June 11.
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