There's still four Tests remaining in the WTC cycle but South Africa and Australia are locked in to face off at Lord's in June
Ultimate Guide for the 2025 World Test Championship Final
When, and where, is it?
The third World Test Championship Final will be played at Lord's in London, beginning June 11, 2023, featuring South Africa for the first time, and reigning champions Australia.
How can I watch?
The blockbuster Test match will be broadcast on Prime Video in Australia.
The global streaming giant acquired the rights for all ICC events for the 2024-27 period. The good news is those with an Amazon subscription already have access to Prime's streaming service. If not, they offer a 30-day free trial that you can sign up to here.
Get the latest
Cricket.com.au and the CA Live app will have you covered for all the breaking news, talking points and form in the lead up to the Test Championship. We'll also have live scores throughout the match and extensive coverage each day with reports, video recaps, interviews and behind-the-scenes insights from our crew who will be travelling to London for the contest.
You can also catch up on all the latest news via The Unplayable Podcast, where we will be joined by special guests to dissect all the talking points ahead of and during the WTC final. Listen and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts and anywhere else you get your pods!
Team news
Both sides will be required by the ICC to nominate a squad of 15 for the WTC Final, which can be changed until around a week before the match. More details on when squads must be submitted will be announced by the ICC in the coming months.
Australia
After beating India in a series for the first time in a decade, Australia are heading to Sri Lanka for two Tests at the end of January. While they'll form an important part of Pat Cummins' (who will miss the tour due to the birth of his second child) side's preparation for June's match, Australia also haven't won a Test series in Sri Lanka since 2011.
Josh Hazlewood is also sitting out the tour as he recovers from a calf strain, with Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland to lead the pace attack, while Nathan Lyon will be supported by auxiliary spinners Todd Murphy and Matt Kuhnemann. Left-arm spin-bowling allrounder Cooper Connolly has also been included for his maiden Test tour, but it's unlikely those three will be required in the seam-friendly conditions in England come June.
Instead, the series could present an ideal opportunity to get more international experience into teenage opener Sam Konstas and mercurial allrounder Beau Webster, who both made their debuts and played influential roles in Australia's 3-1 Border-Gavaskar Trophy triumph.
South Africa
South Africa surged to the top of the WTC standings with seven straight victories in Tests against West Indies, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Their qualification for the decider is remarkable given they sent a second-string side to New Zealand in early 2024 due to a schedule clash with their domestic T20 franchise tournament. They lost the series 2-0.
Their squad for the WTC Final will be far from understrength however, with star quicks Kagiso Rabada (30 wickets at 26) and Marco Jansen (9 at 13) boasting impressive records on English soil.
"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," Rabada said after Australia joined South Africa in qualifying for the decider.
"But we also know how to beat them."
The venue
The idea of it being a neutral venue means the obvious answer is it favours neither team, but Australia have a superior record at Lord's over the past 10 years.
Australia haven't lost in their three most recent Tests they've played at the Home of Cricket – winning in the 2015 and 2023 Ashes and drawing in 2019 – the latter remembered for Steve Smith being subbed out with concussion and replaced by Marnus Labuschagne after being struck in the head by Jofra Archer.
Smith has played in each of those three Tests and averages 101.80 at Lord's in that span, with two centuries and a top score of 215 during Australia's 405-run victory in 2015. He also hit 110 in the first innings of the 2023 second Ashes Test.
Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head both average in the 40s from their two appearances at Lord's, while Josh Hazlewood has been the pick of the Aussie bowlers at Lord's since 2015 with 13 wickets at 26.15, with Pat Cummins also taking 10 at 21.10.
South Africa have also won two of their past three Tests at Lord's, beating England by an innings and 12 runs in August 2022 and 51 runs in 2012. However, they lost by 211 runs in 2017.
Kagiso Rabada was the chief destroyer with 5-52 and 2-27 during their last visit as they conquered 'Bazball' by rolling the hosts twice for under 200. Rabada has 13 wickets at 19.38 in his two matches at Lord's.
Proteas captain Temba Bavuma's only match at Lord's was in 2017 where he hit a half-century and spinner Keshav Maharaj is the next best with the bat of their current players, with 60 runs in his three innings there.
What ball will be used?
It's yet to be confirmed by the ICC but the Dukes ball was used for the two previous World Test Championship finals at Southampton in 2021 and The Oval in 2023. Dukes brand is the ball used by England for Test matches in the country, and features a more pronounced seam and is harder than the Australian-made Kookaburra ball used in both Australia and South Africa.
What if it's a draw?
There have been just four draws in the 66 Tests played so far in the current World Test Championship cycle. One of them included both South Africa (1 draw) and Australia (2 draws), with the two teams playing out a rain-affected draw at the SCG in January 2023 to see Australia win the three-Test series 2-0.
If the WTC Final is drawn, tied or abandoned, then South Africa and Australia will be declared joint winners of the World Test Championship.
To try and minimise the possibility of a draw, the ICC has scheduled a reserve day for the final.
Hang on, did you say, 'reserve day'?
Yep, that's right, this Test match is unique in that it has a scheduled reserve day, on June 16.
It's partly a hark back to a bygone era of so-called 'timeless Tests', but also partly an admission that summer in England can be a fickle beast. That proved the case in 2021 when the inaugural WTC Final used the reserve day after the opening day of the event was a washout.
But, to be clear, the reserve day is there to make up for any lost playing time during the regular schedule of five days, not to keep playing until one side wins.
Australia beat India in the 2023 edition just before lunch on the fifth day in a match that saw little disruption for weather.
If a weather event strikes during the Test, umpires will use their usual measures to make up lost time such as playing later or starting earlier where possible.
The reserve day will only come into use if there is more than one hour of lost playing time to be made up, but it can be up to a full day, if required.
What does the winner get?
The ICC hasn't confirmed the prize money for this year's World Test Championship Final yet, but both 2021 winners New Zealand and 2023 champions Australia pocketed a nice US$1.6 million (currently A$2.59 million) for their efforts, with the defeated team taking home half of that.
In addition to the cash, the winning team is presented with the Test Championship Mace. That trophy was previously held by whichever team topped the ICC's Test rankings, with a US$1m cash prize presented annually every April from 2003 to 2019.
In that period, Australia held the mace from its introduction through to 2009, and won it again temporarily in 2016 under Steve Smith. South Africa held the mace from 2013-15 under Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla's captaincy.
Road to the final
Australia have won three of the five series they've contested so far in the 2023-25 World Test Championship cycle, beating Pakistan (3-0 at home), New Zealand (2-0 away) and India (3-1 at home).
They drew the Ashes 2-2 in England in their first series of the new cycle and also with West Indies 1-1 at home as Shamar Joseph's heroic seven-wicket haul in Brisbane carried the visitors to their first Test win on Australian soil in 27 years.
Australia's six-wicket win over India in the fifth Test at the SCG in January secured their spot in the WTC Final and eliminated India in the process.
South Africa will enter the WTC decider on a seven-Test winning streak having accounted for West Indies (1-0 away), Bangladesh (2-0 away), Sri Lanka (2-0 home) and Pakistan (2-0 home) since August last year.
Prior to that they'd lost three of their first four Tests in the cycle, including both in New Zealand in 2024 where their top players remained at home to play in the SA20 franchise league. Their seven straight victories saw them surge from a points percentage of 25 to first in the WTC standings with 69.44, where they will remain even if Australia win both of their remaining matches in Sri Lanka.
World Test Championship Final
June 11-15: South Africa v Australia, Lord's