South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada has fired shots at Australia five months ahead of the World Test Championship (WTC) final. South Africa were the first team to qualify for the summit clash after beating Pakistan in the first Test and then Australia sealed the second spot by winning the fifth Test against India in Sydney.
Rabaa understands that the WTC final is still a long way ahead but the prospect of facing Australia in the encounter is motivating him and the team. "It's actually quite some distance away, but a big occasion like the World Test Championship final gets you up for it. 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 said after South Africa beat Pakistan in the second Test by 10 wickets.
Moreover, the fast bowler believes that Test cricket is alive and kicking at the moment and lauded the way their series against Pakistan turned out with the visitors fighting to the core after being asked to follow-on. "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," he added.
South Africa won't be playing a single Test match until the WTC Final now and for the same reason, their red-ball head coach Shukri Conrad is willing to play at least one Test in those conditions before the WTC Final. "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," Conrad said.
