New Delhi, June 7 (IANS) Former Australia cricket Tom Moody believes that over generations, Australia have thrived under the pressure of high stakes matches and have elevated the game to another level over the years ahead of their World test Championship (WTC) final against South Africa.

South Africa and Australia will be playing for the ICC’s coveted mace, from June 11 at the Lord’s.

South Africa are aiming for their first ICC trophy in over two decades while Pat Cummins-led Australia will be looking to retain the mace that they claimed after defeating India in the previous edition of the WTC final at the Oval in June 2023.

“The Australians have built that reputation through consistent success in major tournaments. When it comes to ICC events, Australia somehow elevates their game to another level as a team. They genuinely embrace the challenges of tournament cricket and thrive under the pressure of these high-stakes matches.

“It’s also about confidence. Historically, many of their players have won multiple ICC tournaments, and they’ve grown up watching previous generations achieve the same success. That winning mentality is ingrained in them,” Moody said on Star Sports.

The Proteas have enjoyed a golden run of ICC event form over the past two years. They reached the ICC Men’s World Cup semi-final, the ICC Champions Trophy semi-final, the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup final and now the ICC WTC final.

Moody believes that Australia hold a slight advantage over South Africa purely on the basis of having more experience in such high-pressure situations.

“You need to trust your instincts and make sure that you sort of cut out the negativity of the fact that you haven’t played Test cricket for several months, or you’re suddenly turning up in England and you’ve got completely different conditions. That’s the nature of Test cricket, and that’s the beauty of Test cricket, being able to adapt and evolve on the move to be able to respond when you need to. So, I think both teams will be very aware of that. I think Australia has got a slight advantage purely because they’ve played more big matches than South Africa have over recent years,” he added.

–IANS

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