It will be extremely difficult for Cricket South Africa (CSA) to prepare their players for the June 11 start of the World Test Championship final at Lord’s. Fans may be excited about the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) return, but it appears to be interfering with the planning of important international tournaments.
Originally scheduled to end by May 25, the IPL 2025 has to be postponed further due to border disputes between India and Pakistan. After over ten days of postponement, the competition has now been extended until Tuesday, June 3. The South African cricket board has therefore chosen to postpone its trip to the UK by almost a week in order to play the reigning champions, Australia, in the WTC.
Enoch Nkwe, the CSA Director of Cricket, had previously stated that the players competing in the World Test Championship (WTC) final must return by May 26. The player would have had plenty time to get ready for the big event versus the Australian team captained by Pat Cummins.
According to “The Sunday Morning Herald,” Nkwe stated, “One thing we’ve made clear, and we are finalising it with the IPL and the BCCI, is that we are sticking to our original plan when it comes to WTC preparations, with May 26 being the latest for the Test guys to come back.”
The director’s statement abruptly changed course, stating that the final training will now start on June 3 and that people far above his position will be discussing the issue. The players would only have nearly a week to get ready for their first-ever WTC final.
“Correction: on June 3rd, the team will start practicing again for the match. The topic is being debated at a higher level than I am. We are concentrating on WTC last preparations at the ground level,” Nkwe retracted the earlier assertion.
Australia and South Africa’s WTC final teams
Temba Bavuma (c), Tony de Zorzi, Ryan Rickelton, Aiden Markram, David Bedingham, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Dane Paterson, Keshav Maharaj, and Senuran Muthusamy comprise the South African team.
India
