South African fast bowler Dane Paterson is adamant that his side will not be entering the World Test Championship (WTC) Final as underdogs \u2014 and firmly believes they have what it takes to defeat Australia and claim Test cricket\u2019s most prestigious prize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Australia boast an imposing record at Lord\u2019s \u2014 just two defeats in nearly a century, including a 43-run Ashes victory in 2023 \u2014 Paterson remains optimistic about South Africa\u2019s prospects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From 40 Tests at Lord\u2019s, Australia have secured 18 wins (a win percentage of 45%), surpassing England\u2019s 40.68% from 145 matches, and well ahead of South Africa\u2019s 33.33% from 15 games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But for Paterson, the past counts for little when both sides face unique conditions at the iconic venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t see ourselves as underdogs. Both teams are stepping into somewhat unfamiliar territory \u2014 the slope at Lord\u2019s, the Dukes ball \u2014 it presents a different challenge compared to the Kookaburra we\u2019re used to.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
This marks South Africa\u2019s first appearance in a WTC Final and another opportunity to break their run of near-misses at major ICC events \u2014 with the team having reached the knockout stages in several recent limited-overs tournaments without securing a title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re second best by any means. We fully believe in our ability to win,\u201d<\/em> Paterson added.
\u201cEvery South African team carries that hunger and determination. This is our chance to bring home the Mace \u2014 the pinnacle of Test cricket. We\u2019re doing this for our country, and that gives us tremendous motivation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nAlthough their recent warm-up match against Zimbabwe was heavily disrupted by rain \u2014 with just one day of play possible \u2014 Paterson said the squad remains in good shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWe looked sharp during the time we had, and now all our focus is on the final. We\u2019re ready to take on the challenge and stop Australia from retaining their WTC crown next week.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The highly anticipated final begins on June 11<\/strong>, with both teams eyeing Test cricket\u2019s ultimate prize.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South African fast bowler Dane Paterson is adamant that his side will not be entering the World Test Championship (WTC) Final as underdogs \u2014 and firmly believes they have what it takes to defeat Australia and claim Test cricket\u2019s most prestigious prize. While Australia boast an imposing record at Lord\u2019s \u2014 just two defeats in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gurubhainews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3119"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gurubhainews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gurubhainews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gurubhainews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gurubhainews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3119"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gurubhainews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3123,"href":"https:\/\/gurubhainews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3119\/revisions\/3123"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gurubhainews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gurubhainews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gurubhainews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gurubhainews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}