Cricket-South Africa boost WTC final hopes with Australia series win

CAPE TOWN, Nov 1 (Reuters) - South Africa’s ⁠series victory over Australia has put them top of the world rankings and greatly enhanced their chances of returning to ⁠the World Test Championship final but they must still navigate a home series against England at the end ‌of the year.

The top two teams in the WTC points table for the 2025-27 cycle, which ends in March, advance to the final in London in June and South Africa are well placed after completing a come-from-behind 2-1 home series win over Australia at the weekend.

They are on a points percentage of 71.43, narrowly behind New ​Zealand (72.22), but have overtaken Australia who, after their 176-run loss at Newlands on ⁠Saturday, dropped to 69.23.

South Africa need five wins from ⁠seven remaining tests in the 2025-27 cycle -- two at home to Bangladesh later this month, a three-test tour by England over Christmas ⁠and ‌New Year and two away in Sri Lanka in February -- to qualify for a second successive final and a chance to retain their title.

They will be wary of the threat England pose as they begin a new era with Stephen Fleming as ⁠coach and Joe Root back as captain.

England have won three of their last ​four series in South Africa, drawing the ‌other.

Even if South Africa lose points, their closest rivals will effectively becancelling each other out, starting later this month ⁠when India (51.52) play two ​tests in Wellington and Christchurch against New Zealand, whothen go to Australia in December for a four-test series, after which the Australianshit the road and go to India in January at the start of a five-test series.

A win is worth 12 points, a tie six points each and a draw four ⁠points and there can be points deducted for a slow over rate. ​But key is that the final ranking is based on the percentage of total points won out of total points contested. Teams generally need a win percentage above 60% to qualify.

South Africa’s place in the last WTC final, where they beat Australia by five wickets at Lord’s ⁠in another dramatic rescue act, was controversial given that they played only 12 tests against moderate opposition while England played 22 tests and Australia and India 19 each over the same qualifying period.

South Africa will again play fewer tests in this cyclethanAustralia, England and India but their credentialsare greatly enhanced by beating India 2-0 away late last year and now securing the home success over Australia.

“I think to ​go from 10 months of no test cricket to something like that, I think that ⁠will be remembered as one of the iconic test series, at least in this century," said South Africa captain Temba Bavuma.

"I’d like to believe ​two quality sides came up against each other and really forced each other to ‌play their best cricket."

Next year’s finalhas been confirmed forThe Oval from ​June 9-13.

The first three editions have each produced a different champion. New Zealand won the inaugural title in 2021, Australia took the mace in 2023 and South Africa ended their long wait for a major trophy lastyear.

(Editing by Clare Fallon)

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开普敦，11 月 1 日（路透社）——南非队在与澳大利亚队的系列赛中获胜，使他们跃居世界排名第一，并大大提高了他们重返世界测试锦标赛决赛的机会，但他们仍然必须在年底的主场迎战英格兰队。

在 2025-27 赛季（截至 3 月）的世界高尔夫球锦标赛积分榜上排名前两位的球队将晋级 6 月在伦敦举行的决赛。南非队在上周末主场以 2-1 逆转战胜澳大利亚队，目前形势大好。

他们的积分百分比为 71.43，略低于新西兰（72.22），但已经超过了澳大利亚。澳大利亚在周六于新地以 176 分之差惨败后，积分百分比下降至 69.23。

南非需要在 2025-27 年周期剩余的七场测试赛中赢得五场——本月晚些时候在主场对阵孟加拉国的两场测试赛，圣诞节和新年期间英格兰的三场测试赛巡回赛，以及 2 月份在斯里兰卡的两场客场比赛——才能连续第二次晋级决赛，并有机会卫冕冠军。

英格兰队在斯蒂芬·弗莱明担任教练、乔·鲁特回归担任队长后，开启了新的时代，他们将对英格兰队构成的威胁保持警惕。

英格兰队在南非最近四次系列赛中赢了三次，另一次战平。

即使南非队丢分，他们最接近的对手也会有效地相互抵消，从本月晚些时候开始，印度队（51.52）将在惠灵顿和基督城与新西兰队进行两场测试赛，然后新西兰队将在12月前往澳大利亚进行四场测试赛，之后澳大利亚队将前往印度，在1月开始五场测试赛。

胜一场得12分，平局各得6分，打平得4分，比赛节奏过慢可能会被扣分。但关键在于，最终排名是根据胜率（即赢得的总分占总积分的百分比）来确定的。球队通常需要胜率超过60%才能晋级。

南非队在上届世界测试锦标赛决赛中，在洛德板球场以五分之差击败澳大利亚队，上演了一场戏剧性的逆转。考虑到在同一资格赛期间，南非队只与实力一般的对手进行了 12 场测试赛，而英格兰队进行了 22 场测试赛，澳大利亚队和印度队各进行了 19 场测试赛，南非队的晋级之路颇具争议。

南非在本轮比赛中参加的测试赛场次将再次少于澳大利亚、英格兰和印度，但他们去年底在客场以 2-0 击败印度，现在又在主场战胜澳大利亚，大大提升了他们的实力。

南非队长坦巴·巴武马说：“我认为，从10个月没有板球测试赛到这样的比赛，我认为这将至少在本世纪被铭记为标志性的测试系列赛之一。”

“我更愿意相信这是两支实力强劲的队伍之间的较量，双方都竭尽全力发挥出了最佳水平。”

明年的总决赛已确定于6月9日至13日在椭圆球场举行。

前三届比赛的冠军都不同。新西兰赢得了2021年的首届冠军，澳大利亚在2023年捧起了冠军奖杯，而南非则在去年结束了他们漫长的冠军荒。

（克莱尔·法伦编辑）

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