WTC Final: All eyes on the ball, and none on those facing it

Rabada versus Hazlewood, Jansen versus Starc, Maharaj versus Lyon. If you didn't know better you would have thought the WTC final between South Africa and Australia at Lord's this week was a bowlers only affair.

Maybe, with five of the top 10 ranked bowlers in the world in the squads, most of the pre-final buzz was bound to be about the bowlers. But four of the leading 10 batters are also here, not that anyone seems to have noticed given how much discussion has centred on the fellas at the other end of the pitch.

What did Steve Smith make of that?

"We've been training really well the last week or so, and all the batters feel like they're in a good place," Smith said on Monday. "So now we're excited to go out and play. It's another WTC final. We've got some fond memories of last year, just down the road. Coming here to Lord's, it's a place we traditionally play pretty good cricket."

Indeed, Australia hammered India by 209 runs in the last WTC final at the Oval in June 2023. Smith scored 121 in the first innings, and his stand of 285 with Travis Head - who made 163 - put the Aussies in control. As for Lord's, Australia have won three, and drawn and lost the other two, Smith has played there.

But we see what you did there, Steve. We asked you how batters, for so long cricket's first-class citizens, felt about being shunted further down the Test train to board a different carriage. And you spoke about the station and the platform and the destination and the scenery en route.

How about Shukri Conrad? What did he make of the shift in emphasis from bat to ball?

"It's pretty normal to chat about the bowlers when you've got guys like Kagiso Rabada, ranked two in the world, and Marco [Jansen] and Keshav [Maharaj]," Conrad said. "But on the batting front there's a quiet confidence among the batting group. They might not have superstar names, but as a collective we're pretty confident."

Of course, the main common factor between batters and bowlers is the ball. South Africa and Australia are used to playing with the Kookaburra. But this is England, where the Dukes rules - and will be used when the WTC final starts on Wednesday.

The Kookaburra has a flatter seam than the Dukes and its lacquer doesn't last as long. That tends to mean the Kookaburra's movement off the pitch and swing through the air is less pronounced than the Dukes'. And that's good news for batters. So does the fact that the Dukes will be used in the final constitute bad news for them?

Smith saw that one coming: "I think they've changed the Kookaburra. I think the seams on the ones we play with back home are a lot bigger, and you mix that in with the [greener] grass that's been on the pitches the last four or five years. It's the perfect storm.

"It's about playing what's in front of you. I think the [Dukes] ball can swing for longer. For me as a batter, it's about using the swing; going with it.

"If the ball is going away from me, it's about being able to go square with the ball and go with the swing. Particularly at Lord's, you want to go with the slope and the swing. You can throw the two together. But, yeah, I enjoy playing against the Dukes."

Smith has played 22 of his 116 Tests in England, a useful sample size for making comparisons. The South Africans have earned 28 caps there between the 15 of them; nine of them at Lord's. How well were they tailoring their game to the Dukes?

"It takes a little bit of adjusting," Conrad said. "We got a little bit of that out of the warm-up match in Arundel, and in the nets we've had. I think whatever adjustments needed to be made have been made."

Conrad's batters faced 79 overs but were in the field for only 11 in their rain-ruined four-day match against Zimbabwean opposition in Arundel last week. No disrespect is intended by pointing out that the South Africans faced no-one of any of the Aussies' class in that match.

But their coaches did have the pleasure of Stuart Broad's company at dinner on Sunday. How good was that?

"The ribeye was good," Conrad said. "But, yeah, it was enlightening. And if I didn't call time at 10.30pm, I think he'd probably still be sitting there chatting to us. Everybody walked away saying that was great, Broady included."

Broad also joined the South Africans for training on Monday. He took 398 of his 604 wickets with the Dukes, 113 of them at Lord's - where he claimed 17 against Australia. He knows how to bowl with this ball at this ground against these opponents. But can he teach his temporary teammates the secret in such a short time?