The World Test Championship‘s (WTC) gain might be the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) loss. The South Africa cricket team, the finalists for the WTC Final 2025, will try to play a warm-up match or matches in England against any team that’s available. South Africa’s Test coach, Shukri Conrad, stated this after the Proteas beat Pakistan by 10 wickets in Cape Town and officially ended their WTC 2023-25 cycle.
South Africa wants warm-up Test for WTC Final
Since the WTC Final will be played at Lord’s six months from now, South Africa would be going in rather unprepared. One mustn’t forget that they play a lot less Test cricket than top nations like India, England, or Australia. To ensure they are well prepared to win their first ICC title since the 1998 Champions Trophy, South Africa will try to play a warm-up Test match.
“We’re going to try and get a Test match, possibly in the UK, against Ireland or Afghanistan, whoever is free,” Conrad said in Cape Town on January 6. “If unsuccessful, we’ll obviously go out a couple of days earlier and make sure we camp there really well, probably in Canterbury,” the South Africa Test head coach added.
IPL 2025 sacrifice for WTC Final
However, this means that they might have to make a few sacrifices, i.e., some of their top players missing a few matches of the IPL 2025 season. Now, there is a possibility that they can try to schedule a Test match early, before the WTC Final starts on June 11. However, considering their aim to play in England, that might not be dependent on them.
Also, their opponents might not be available when they want them to be. England is already playing Zimbabwe from May 21-25, so both of them are out. Ireland or Afghanistan might agree, but since the West Indies are also coming to England at the end of May, there might be some venue-related issues for South Africa.
They might have to ask either Ireland or Afghanistan to play during the middle of May, and therefore eight South African players who will feature in the IPL 2025 season and are in contention to make the squad for the WTC Final might skip a few matches in the league.
Since the IPL Playoffs will be played in the last week of the tournaments, May 18-25, as per the tentative dates, Kagiso Rabada, Kwena Maphaka, Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi, Gerald Coetzee, Lizaad Williams, Tristan Stubbs, and Anrich Nortje might miss some IPL 2025 action.
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