Follow UsThe world famous Lord’s Cricket Ground is all set to host the Final of the third edition of the World Test Championship with Australia and South Africa facing off. With the prestigious Test Championship Mace on the line, let us look into the conditions and recent records at this iconic venue.
Lord’s has hosted eight Tests in the last four years. Teams have chosen to bowl in six of the eight matches due to the overcast conditions. The average first innings score is around 272 with 400+ runs being a winning total batting first.
In the last eight Tests at Lord’s, teams have won by an innings in a couple of games. Teams have won chasing in the fourth innings twice and teams have won with big margins while bowling in the fourth innings.
Both Australia and South Africa have done well at Lord’s in the past 10 years. Australia have won two Tests and drawn one. South Africa on the other hand have a 50:50 record. The match that they won against England in 2022 was an innings victory.
Test matches in early June at Lord’s have become a regular in the last few years. There have been six Tests at Lord’s before June 15th in the last 15 years with four matches ending in a draw. The most recent Tests saw teams chasing the targets with ease in the fourth innings.
Pacers have been fantastic at Lord’s taking nearly 90% of the wickets. They have taken advantage of the early swinging conditions and have taken wickets at regular intervals. Spinners on the other hand, have failed to make an impact as not a single spinner has managed to take at least one 4+ wicket haul in the last four years.
Both pacer types have done well at this venue as they have averaged below 30 and struck inside 50 deliveries. Among spin variants, the left arm spinners have not been successful averaging one wicket per innings. Their bowling average in excess of 50 is a worrying concern.
The pacers have been excellent across innings with them being at their very best in the first innings, averaging nine wickets in the first innings of a Test match. They have kept their bowling average below 30 in every innings except second innings of the Tests, as the conditions will be the best for batters to score runs.
Among the Australian batters, many have played at Lord’s with Steve Smith being the best smashing four 50+ scores in nine innings averaging nearly 60.
In the South Africa team, none of the batters has played more than three innings at this venue. Among designated batters, only captain Temba Bavuma has scored more than 50 runs.
Australian pacers have had good experience of playing at Lord’s due to their Ashes series visits in recent times. Among the pacers, only Mitchell Starc has struggled to take wickets and has been expensive.
Kagiso Rabada is the only bowler who has a considerable amount of experience playing Tests at Lord’s. He has taken 19 wickets in four innings averaging 19.4 with one five-wicket haul.