Australia vs South Africa Betting Tips
Australia and South Africa are in London as they do battle in the ICC World Test Championship final at Lord's, which gets underway on Wednesday (10.30am, Sky Sports Main Event).
The Australians are the current champions after beating India in the 2023 final and they are odds-on with the majority of betting sites to retain their title at the home of cricket.
The bi-annual tournament started in June 2023 with the Ashes and includes 69 matches played between nine teams across 27 different series. Points are awarded for those matches, and the top two sides compete in the final.
This is South Africa’s first appearance in the final of the tournament, which started in 2019 and was won by New Zealand, who also beat India in the final.
The Proteas finished top of the World Test Championship standings and have won their last seven Test matches in a row against West Indies, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
The last time they faced Australia, though, they lost the series 2-0 in Australia, with the third and final match finishing in a draw.
Australia have been in imperious form in the Test format of the game, losing only three of their last 18 series, dating back to January 2019 and all three defeats came again India.
They won 13 of their 19 Tests during the WTC cycle and remained unbeaten in all six series but they were beaten 3-1 by South Africa on their last trip there, at the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, so how will the pair fare in English conditions?
Former England bowler Stuart Broad has been working with South Africa, not a bad shout when he took 113 in 28 Tests at Lord's.
Australia vs South Africa Betting Preview: Baggy Greens Should Justify Favouritism
Four of the top five players on the ICC Men's Test Bowler Rankings will be in action in the final, with Kagiso Rabada (second), Pat Cummins (third), Josh Hazlewood (fourth) and Nathan Lyon (fifth) currently the closest challenges to India pacer Jasprit Bumrah on the list for Test bowlers.
It will be interesting to see how they compare, and Rabada will need his fellow bowlers, including Lungi Ngidi, who has admitted winning this final “would mean everything”, to hit form.
Baggy Greens batsman Steve Smith is the highest-ranked batsman on show, sitting in fifth, behind England duo Joe Root and Harry Brook, who occupy the top two spots.
Smith is just one place above Proteas captain Temba Bavuma, who scored 106 in his last Test innings back in January, as South Africa beat Pakistan by 10 wickets.
Cricket betting sites have Australia as the favourites at 4/9, while South Africa are 11/4. The draw is 11/1 and that price may well shorten if the forecast for Thursday and Friday proves correct with rain expected in London at the end of the week.
Australia have won two of their last three Test matches at the ground and were unbeaten in 18 matches between 1934 and 2009.
Australia vs South Africa prediction 1: Australia to win - 4/9 BetMGM
Australia vs South Africa Best Bets: Smith to Keep up His Lord’s Record
It’s not really a surprise that Smith has an outstanding record at Lord’s; after all, he is impressive pretty much everywhere he plays.
The 36-year-old has scored 36 Test centuries and averages 56.74 since making his Baggy Greens debut back in 2010 against Pakistan, ironically at Lord’s.
He scored just 13 in that match and was twice out LBW, but since then, he has scored 525 runs in total and has an average of 58.33 at the home of cricket. Those numbers are boosted by a double-century in an Ashes Test 10 years ago, and 110 in 2023.
He is now just 51 runs away from becoming the highest-scoring overseas player in Lord’s history, a record you wouldn’t bet against him breaking by Sunday.
Australia vs South Africa prediction 2: Smith to finish as Australia’s top batsman - 31/10 BetVictor
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