South Africa became the first team to qualify for the 2023-25 WTC final after winning a thriller against Pakistan in the first Test in Centurion. They followed that up with another morale-boosting win in Cape Town, clean-sweeping the series 2-0. That was their seventh win in a row, their second-best winning streak ever behind a nine-game unbeaten run between 2002-2003.

In the current WTC cycle, the Proteas have won eight out of 12 matches. The win in Cape Town helped Temba Bavuma achieve a captaincy landmark by becoming the joint second-quickest to eight Test wins.

South Africa's seventh consecutive Test win has guaranteed them a first-place finish in the World Test Championship table 👏#SAvPAKhttps://t.co/hSk3WlFNmP

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) January 6, 2025

With no more Tests for South Africa before the final, Conrad said that South Africa would like to prepare for the summit clash at Lord’s with a one-off Test in the UK against either Afghanistan or Ireland to acclimatise to the conditions.

"We're going to try and get a Test match, possibly in the UK, against Ireland or Afghanistan, whoever is free. And if unsuccessful, we'll obviously go out a couple of days earlier, and make sure we camp there really well, probably in Canterbury," said Conrad on SuperSport.

Both Afghanistan and Ireland were not part of the ongoing WTC cycle. While Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe by 1-0 in a historic series recently, Ireland’s last Test came in July last year. Notably, Ireland's last victory in the format also came against Zimbabwe.

Australia set to clash with South Africa in the WTC 2025 final

Australia became the second team to qualify for the final after beating India comprehensively in Sydney. The win also powered them to a 3-1 series victory, their first in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 10 years.

They are still to play Sri Lanka in an away tour before the title decider but the series is unlikely to hold any implications on their final berth. The only scenario that could jeopardize Australia's qualification involves penalty points for a slow over rate.

For the first time, a WTC final will take place without India in it. They qualified in the previous two editions, losing both.

Rabada: We know how to beat Australia

South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada has issued a warcry saying that his team knows how to beat defending champions Australia in the final. With 151 wickets at an average of 22.27, Rabada has the most number of scalps for South Africa across the three editions of the World Test Championship.

"It's actually quite some distance away, but a big occasion like the World Test Championship final gets you up for it," Rabada said.

"South Africa versus Australia has always been an intense rivalry, because we play cricket quite similar. We play hard - and they're going to come hard at us, and we know that. But we also know how to beat them."

He added: "One hundred per cent, Test cricket is still alive. It's our best format that we've been playing right now. When you look at South African cricket and all our legends, they've all been great Test cricketers. The world's best players are Test cricketers, and this series against Pakistan has been a wonderful advertisement for Test cricket, especially in South Africa."

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