AB de Villiers feels the criticism that has come South Africa’s way has been unwarranted and they have rather done well to reach the WTC final despite experiencing “so many changes” in the last three to five years.

South Africa have qualified for the WTC final for the first time and will face favourites Australia at Lord’s in June.

The Proteas did draw a two-match series against India at home but didn’t play the other leading Test sides like Australia and England. Their board was severely criticised for sending a team full of rookies to New Zealand as the senior players had to be made available for the SA20 back home.

“The Proteas in the last few years have taken a little bit of unfair criticism, in my opinion. You’ve got to keep in mind all the changes that has happened in the last three to five years,” de Villiers told the media on the sidelines of SA20 third season.

“A lot of experienced players retiring, a lot of coaching staff moving on. There’s been a lot of changes, a lot of young faces, fresh faces coming in. Two new coaches, Shukri Conrad doing the Test team, Rob Walter with the white ball cricket.

“There’s a lot of new things, and still they qualified for the T20 World Cup final, (and) that in the WTC final. It is actually incredible and I feel they deserve a lot more credit for achieving this,” he said.

De Villiers said the current Proteas side will need more time and travelling experience to attain the consistency which Graeme Smith’s team enjoyed in the past.

“It’s going to take a little bit of time in saying that to find that consistency that we’ve had maybe between 2008 to 2015, where we were consistently around one of the top teams in the world, and they will get there, it takes time,” he said.

“All teams have to go through those phases to find the experienced players again, to find the right mix of players. I was there in 2005, 2006 and 2007 where we were all over the place… very difficult, very inconsistent.

“It was very difficult to find our groove, and then in 2008 we started clicking. But we had to go through those hard times first,” he said.

De Villiers said while there’s no doubt Australia are favourites for the WTC final, he would not write South Africa off.

“Proteas have done exceptionally well, it shows you they’re playing a positive brand of cricket, they’re going for results, I love that about them,” he said.

“With Temba Bavuma as captain taking a lot of criticism over the years, look at where he’s now, taking the team to the WTC final over and above incredible cricketing nations like India, New Zealand (and) England.” De Villiers said he would back Proteas to come good for their attitude on and off the field.

“They’re up against Australia, at Lord’s, (on) a moving wicket, against one of the best bowling attacks in the world, and a batting line-up that bats deep. But I will never write my team off.

“They’re a bunch of fighters, and Temba Bavuma mentioned this in the press conference. He said, ‘I will take this team to war, because I know they’re going to fight for each other’.” De Villiers said South Africa should back the youngsters to the hilt.

“The most important thing is to stick with the team they’ve got now. With the 13, 14 (or) 15 players and build around that. That’s what I had when I grew up. Graeme Smith backed me,” he said.

“I wasn’t always consistent in the first few years, and he stuck with me and then finally, the team reaped the rewards from me becoming more consistent. “There are quite a few other examples like that. Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn. The list goes on. (They) could easily have dropped those players because they were inconsistent early on,” he added.

“Everyone is childishly excited about SA20” De Villiers said everyone is “childishly excited” about SA20’s third edition which has made a flying start.

“This tournament is all about the youngsters in my opinion. I love the fact that there’s a platform for them to get exposure, to get great experience, (and) to play alongside some of the best players in the world,” he said.

“I’m in the fortunate position to be a commentator here. I get to spend a lot of time on the field before the start of the play. I speak to almost all the players, the coaches and everyone is childishly excited about this tournament,” he added.

India fans show their support during the fourth Test against Australia in Melbourne. India may have lost the crucial Boxing Day contest by 184 runs but all is not lost as far as their chances of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) Final are concerned.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

India may have lost the crucial Boxing Day contest by 184 runs but all is not lost as far as their chances of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) Final are concerned.

To qualify for the final, India must win the last Test of the series against Australia at Sydney, and then hope for a positive result for Sri Lanka (or a 0-0 draw) when Australia tour the island nation early next year.

Post the loss, India’s point percentage (PCT) has dropped to 52.78 from 55.89. Australia, on the other hand boosted their PCT as they now have 61.46.

South Africa have already qualified for the WTC final after beating Pakistan in the first Test by two wickets on Sunday.

If India manage to win in Sydney, they will have 55.26 PCT and Australia will have 54.26. A win out of two Tests against Sri Lanka then would be enough for Australia to go past India’s PCT and join the Proteas in the final.

India began the 2024/25 season in a rampant fashion, securing a confident 2-0 win over Bangladesh at home.

The script that followed was, however, not according to their plans. The side suffered an unprecedented historic loss to New Zealand at home, before embarking on a challenging tour of Australia.

Under stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah, the Men in Blue rekindled their hopes for a third straight appearance in the WTC Final, with a win in the opening Test in Perth.

However, the side has since gone on to lose two games in Australia, and their WTC chances have taken a significant hit.

But Australia’s compelling win in the final session here has improved their chances of a World Test Championship 2025 final appearance, with the side now just one more Test win away from making it to Lord’s next year.

Earlier in Centurion’s Boxing Day Test, Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen’s stunning partnership took South Africa to a thrilling two-wicket win over Pakistan in the first Test, confirming their spot at next June’s final.

While Australia are out in front as claimants to the second spot, India are still in with a chance. Sri Lanka too are alive, but both will need a string of favourable results to keep their hopes alive.

A still from ‘The Test’

Around halfway of the second episode of the latest season of The Test, drama erupts.

English batter Jonny Bairstow ducks a bouncer, the ball goes to the keeper and the batter walks out of the crease. Pretty much a normal thing that happens during a Test match, you’d think. But there’s tense music in the background, almost like you know something is going to happen.

And then it does. Bairstow walks out of the crease thinking the over was done, and wicketkeeper Carey has thrown at the stumps and is claiming a dismissal.

“Sort of within one ball yeah, it happened,” Alex Carey recalls in the docuseries.

The crowd at Lord’s Cricket Ground would go on to chant, “Same old Aussies, always cheating,” even as a disappointed Bairstow exits.

It’s the equivalent of an action-packed interval block in the movies, the kind that leaves you on a high as you make your way through to the bathroom, probably grinning all the way at how good it is.

The current season of The Test, a sports docuseries that follows the Australian men’s cricket team, throws up such excellent moments. Following the Bairstow runout, Alex Carey is made villain in the eyes of the English public, something that affects him mentally, which his teammate Steve Smith reveals in the documentary.

The Test almost resembles a movie made on war, because of the format’s nature to be over five days. Every day, every session has some sort of an event that makes it special, and that, at times, seeps into the next day as well, as a new battle ensues. Like the one revolving around the Aussie bowling and the English openers in Old Trafford that highlights what essentially Bazball is. For the uninitiated, Bazball refers to aggressive, ultra-positive way of playing Test cricket. It makes this format far more exciting that you’d think.

Flashbacks are seldom interesting in films, but in such sports documentaries, it provides context and adds to the drama. Like that of Travis Head, who doesn’t touch a bat for weeks due to his wedding and shows up big time at the World Test Championship against India. Or Nathan Lyon, off tour due to a calf injury – the events of him walking out to bat under such circumstances were dramatic – and watching the rest of the series with his wife in his drawing room back in Australia, while his teammates slog it out in England.

Directed by Sheldon Wynne and Adrian Brown, The Test also cleverly brings in the highs and lows of the game; case in point being how the Aussies, after being in the game in the last Ashes Test at the Oval, veered off course. Such sports documentaries can be made or broken by editing, and the fantastic editing team ensures that The Test is a good watch. It also has some neat quotes (Marnus Labuchange says, “Cricket is a game of small margins. You can feel like you’re on top and it can flip in a second”).

While Season 3 might not have the appeal of the first season of The Test, which focused on the image rebuilding exercise of the team after the ball-tampering scandal, it does have quite a few highs. One wishes that a video crew was sent to the Australian ODI World Cup campaign too, so that cricket fans got a peek into the journey of Pat Cummins’ winning team, which silenced Indian crowds in the final.

Nevertheless, this season of The Test makes for an engaging, thrilling watch, with a few lessons that could appeal to even non-cricket lovers.

The Test Season 3 is currently streaming on Prime Video