Explained: Why South Africa qualifying for the World Test Championship final has drawn criticism?

On Sunday, South Africa became the first team to confirm their ticket to London when they pulled off a thrilling two-wicket victory over Pakistan in Centurion, making it a virtual shoot-out between defending champions Australia and two-time runners-up India for the other slot.

South Africa currently occupy the top spot on the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 standings with a points percentage of 66.67, guaranteeing them a top-two finish at the end of the cycle. AP

The race to the ICC World Test Championship final in Lord’s next June had as many as five teams in the fray as recently as last month. India and Australia had squared off in the summit clash at The Oval last year, and had occupied the top two spots for the better part of 2024. Given these two teams were among the most consistent in the elite five-day format in recent years, there was a strong possibility of the two teams facing each other in back-to-back WTC finals.

Following a series of topsy-turvy results over the last couple of months – the best example of which was New Zealand getting whitewashed by Sri Lanka to then whitewashing India in India to then losing against England at home – we were left with three teams in the reckoning in the final week of the year.

On Sunday, South Africa became the first team to confirm their ticket to London when they pulled off a thrilling two-wicket victory over Pakistan in Centurion, making it a virtual shoot-out between defending champions Australia and two-time runners-up India for the other slot.

South Africa had finished fifth in the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship between 2019 and 2021, by winning just five matches out of 13. They would rise to the third spot in the following cycle between 2021 and 2023, staying alive in the race until losing out to India.

Coming to the ongoing edition, the Temba Bavuma-led South Africans have made up for that disappointing by seizing one of the top-two spots with six consecutive victories.

However, not many in the cricketing world, however, are happy with South Africa progressing to the final of an ICC event in men’s cricket for the second time in as many years. Here’s why:

Why South Africa reaching the WTC Final has attracted criticism?

The primary reason why some section of cricket fans and experts are pointing fingers at the Proteas, questioning they truly deserve to be in the WTC final or not, is because of the number of matches that they’ve played in the format in this cycle.

South Africa currently sit at the top of the table with a Points Percentage (PCT) of 66.67 ahead of Australia (61.46) and India (52.78) – the other teams still alive in the race. However, the total number of matches played by the Proteas during this period is a lot lesser than the other teams.

The Proteas have played a total of 11 Tests so far in the current cycle, which is half the number of Tests that England (22) have played during this period.  India (18) and Australia (16), the other members of cricket’s ‘Big Three’ have played substantially more Tests than the South Africans.

South Africa, though, aren’t at fault for qualifying for the final despite playing only 11 Tests – as many as Sri Lanka, Pakistan and West Indies have got to play during this period, with New Zealand (14) and Bangladesh (12) having played more than them.

It is, after all, the job of the International Cricket Council (ICC) to ensure more equity when it comes to the distribution of Test matches among the Full Member Nations in a WTC cycle.

Each of India, Australia and England have faced each other in a five-Test series during this period. New Zealand and Pakistan were afforded the privilege of playing two three-match series’ during this cycle, while Sri Lanka and West Indies got one each.

Only South Africa and Bangladesh had to contend themselves with playing two-Test rubbers throughout the cycle. Red-ball coach Shukri Conrad, however, isn’t too bothered with allegations of South Africa taking the “easy route” to the WTC final.

“People abroad will be shouting that we had an easy draw. Well, I’m not going to apologise for that. We’re just thrilled that we can be at Lord’s next year,” Conrad said after the victory against Pakistan.

What’s more, the Proteas were off to the worst possible start after starting the cycle with just one win in their first five matches, losing three in a row.

That included a 0-2 sweep in New Zealand – the first time they had ever lost a Test series to the Black Caps – in which they had sent a second-string team captained by Neil Brand because all the first team players were busy playing SA20.

The South Africans, however, made a spectacular comeback in the second half of the year after their runner-up finish in the T20 World Cup, winning the second Test against the West Indies in Guyana to clinch the series 1-0 before completing back-to-back 2-0 sweeps against Bangladesh (away) and Sri Lanka (home).

All they needed to get over the line was to win one out of the two Tests against Pakistan. And on the fourth day of the series opener at the SuperSport Park, the ninth-wicket pair of Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada achieved that in spectacular fashion with an unbroken 51-run partnership after their team had collapsed to 99/8 in their chase of 148 thanks to Mohammad Abbas’s (6/54) sensational six-wicket burst, leading to wild celebrations on the field as well as in the home dressing room and in the stands