“Mark Boucher backs Rickelton and Stubbs as crucial players against Australia ahead of WTC Final 2025”

Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs will be crucial for South Africa in the 2025 World Test Championship (WTC) final versus Australia, which is scheduled to start on June 11 at the Lord’s in London, according to former national coach Mark Boucher.

Rickelton participated in the 2022 England trip and is accustomed to the circumstances, according to Boucher.

He emphasised Stubbs’ impressive domestic cricket performances, which secured him a spot in the Test team after he shown his ability in the red-ball format. He stressed that the Proteas had the correct mentality to compete, even if he recognised that Australia might have a better batting lineup.

“Ryan Rickelton has been playing well for the Mumbai Indians (MI), and he was also a part of our 2022 England tour. He will be familiar with the conditions because he has actually played a lot of games in England. According to ESPNcricinfo, Boucher stated, “And Tristan Stubbs has returned, played a lot of domestic cricket, and essentially forced his way into the Test side because of the runs that he’s got.”

“Australia will likely believe that their batting lineup is superior than ours on paper, but do we have the mentality to go out there and give it our all in a one-off match? “Yes,” he said.

During their 2022 Test series against England, Boucher served as South Africa’s head coach. He recalled that although the team won the opening game at Lord’s, they lost in Manchester and at The Oval, thus losing the series 2-1. He acknowledged that the main cause of their loss was their incapacity to score noteworthy totals.

“We just couldn’t really put together anything that’s substantial on the scoreboard with regard to runs, and that’s where we really lost our way in the whole series,” Boucher stated.

Only two batters from the 2022 tour—which also happened to be Boucher’s last Test series as head coach—remain in the current squad: Aiden Markram and Kyle Verreynne. Following the 2022 T20 World Cup, he resigned and went on to become the head coach of the Mumbai Indians (MI), leading them for two seasons.

With a large number of local followers and a group of travelling fans scheduled to arrive in London next week, a sizable crowd of Proteas supporters is anticipated at Lord’s.