South Africa, the first-time finalists of the World Test Championship (WTC), will face defending champions Australia on June 11 at Lord’s Cricket Stadium in London.
Meanwhile, the Proteas’ entry into the WTC 2025 final after remaining unbeaten by winning eight consecutive games raises questions about whether they deserve this opportunity to compete against the mighty Australians on a grand stage.
Moreover, the number of series has been increased from six to eight for few teams in the third WTC cycle in 2023-25. But, it turned out to be of no use as the nine teams didn’t get a fair opportunity to prove themselves against all opponents.
Main Reason Why South Africa Doesn’t Deserve a Spot in WTC 2025 Final
Shockingly, South Africa and Bangladesh are the only two teams that have featured in only 2-match series throughout the WTC’s third cycle (2023-25).
The Aussies triumphed in certain series against competitive teams like New Zealand and India in the 2023-25 cycle. Also, they played a few contests that comprised 3 or 5-match series.
But what about the Proteas? They haven’t faced the toughest teams like England and Australia. Rather, their all series in the recently concluded cycle includes just dual matches. Moreover, they lost the 2-match series to New Zealand with a clean sweep.
It is to be noted that since the inaugural WTC cycle in 2019, South Africa’s 12 out of 17 test series have been limited to just two-match contests.
South Africa’s Strange Entry into the WTC 2025 Final
South Africa had a lackluster start to the WTC 2023-25 cycle with a 1-1 draw against India (at home) and a whitewash defeat to New Zealand by 0-2 (away from home).
Surprisingly, the Proteas advanced into the finals as the table toppers by triumphing consecutively in 2-match series against these four inferior opponents:
Test Series | Opponent Team | South Africa’s Scoreline | Home / Away Series for South Africa |
2-match | West Indies | 1-0 | Away |
2-match | Bangladesh | 2-0 | Away |
2-match | Sri Lanka | 2-0 | Home |
2-match | Pakistan | 2-0 | Away |
Uneven Distribution of Series Per Team in WTC 2019-25 Era
The following table illustrates the number of series that have been distributed unevenly among the nine participating teams during the WTC era from 2019 to 2025:
Number of Teams | Team | 2-match Series | 3-match Series | 4-match Series | 5-match Series | Total Number of Test Series Played (From 2019 to 2025) |
1. | Australia | 6 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 16 |
2. | Bangladesh | 16 | – | – | – | 16 |
3. | New Zealand | 13 | 4 | – | – | 17 |
4. | South Africa | 12 | 4 | 1 | – | 17 |
5. | England | 1 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 18 |
6. | India | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 18 |
7. | Pakistan | 13 | 5 | – | – | 18 |
8. | Sri Lanka | 17 | 1 | – | – | 18 |
9. | West Indies | 15 | 3 | – | – | 18 |
From the above table it is understood that apart from teams like Australia, England, and India, none of them have played a 5-match series from 2019 to 2025.
It is to be noted that South Africa played a 4-match series only once in the 2019-21 cycle that too against England.
Final Opinion
The International Cricket Council (ICC) should have increased the length of every series to a minimum of three or more tests, which can help to test the strength of every team. This helps either to extend their winning streak or make a comeback after a painful loss in their previous games.
Overall, the teams rankings in the WTC 2023-25 points table could have been completely different only if all test series included at least three or more matches to enhance the competitive nature of the sport in the longest format.
