New Delhi, June 7 (IANS) Former South Africa cricketer and head coach Mark Boucher believes the Temba Bavuma-led side winning the upcoming World Test Championship final against Australia might well turn out to be the turning point for Test cricket in the country.

South Africa will mark their first-ever appearance in a WTC final when they take on Australia at Lord’s on June 11. The side had topped the 2023-25 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle points table after winning seven Tests in a row and grabbed the top spot with a 69.44 points percentage.

South Africa are currently preparing for the all-important one-off Test by taking on Zimbabwe in a warm-up clash at Arundel.

“A lot of people have criticised South Africa, which is not really fair. You play what’s in front of you, and with all due respect, the sides that we’ve played against, we probably should have beaten, and we’ve done that. So we find ourselves in a final.”

“But I wouldn’t say that it has got the crowds going in our country. Everyone’s very excited about it now, as the opportunity arises, a lot of people are going to travel over to London, spend all their Rands, and go watch what should be a good match. If we win it, I think that could be the turnaround for Test cricket in our country,” Boucher was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

The clash at the Lord’s is also the second time the men’s team will play in an ICC title clash after becoming runners-up in the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup. With the women’s team also ending up as runners-up in successive T20 World Cups, Boucher strongly believes the chokers tag will continue to be associated with them till they don’t win a major tournament, though that feeling is different in the WTC.

“We’re playing for a trophy, so I guess a lot of people are saying no [we can’t win], but I think it’s a different feel in Test match cricket. It’s played over a longer period of time, and you’ve just got to win big moments in the game as well. Yes, there will be that tag [chokers] that gets thrown our way until we win a trophy.”

“You’re not going to get rid of the tag. Is it deserving of these youngsters coming through? No, it’s almost like they’re carrying the burden of what happened in previous years, which is always going to be tough on them, but they’re the ones in control of their futures at the moment,” he added.

Boucher signed off by saying that opener Ryan Rickelton and hard-hitting batter Tristan Stubbs hold the key for South Africa in the upcoming WTC final. “Ryan Rickelton has been playing nicely for Mumbai Indians (MI), and he was actually on the tour that we went to England (in 2022) as well. He’s actually played quite a few games in England as well, so he’ll know the conditions.”

“And Tristan Stubbs has come back and played a lot of domestic cricket and basically forced his way into the Test side because of the runs that he’s got. On paper, Australia will probably feel that they’ve got a better batting line-up than what we have, but have we got the attitude to go out there and, in a one-off game, just leave it all out there? Absolutely,” he added.

–IANS

nr/bsk/