New Delhi, June 8 (IANS) Former cricketer Aaron Finch believes Australia’s bowling attack have the edge over South Africa ahead of the ICC World Test Championship final owing to the current mace holders having more experience of playing Tests in England as a collective unit.

The third World Test Championship final, featuring reigning champions Australia and first-time finalists South Africa will be played at Lord’s from June 11-15. “I think both teams are very similarly matched with their bowling attacks. You look at Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Jos Hazlewood, Scott Boland, they’re probably the four front runners at this stage, along with Nathan Lyon.

“And then you’ve got Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen and Keshav Maharaj. So I think they both match up so closely together, but I’d give Australia just the edge, having probably played more test cricket as a bowling group in the English conditions,” said Finch to Star Sports.

Australia had won the 2023 World Test Championship final after beating India at The Oval under Cummins’ leadership. Since the time Cummins has taken over as Test skipper, Australia’s results have been on an upswing, especially with them beating India 3-1 to grab the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series at home after 10 years.

In the 2023-25 World Test Championship cycle, Australia have won four of their six series. Finch, who captained Australia to 2021 Men’s T20 World Cup trophy, shared his thoughts on Cummins growth as the side’s Test captain.

“Pat Cummins’ captaincy is outstanding. He keeps improving day after day. He’s shown an ability to lead a team, not just on the field, but off the field. And that’s a huge part of captaining an international team. Your ability to bring everything together at the right time. His partnership with Andrew McDonald, the coach, has been super for Australian cricket,” he added.

–IANS

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