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Sport Nation
Smithy at Lord's: ICC's grandiose WTC Final production & how Australia got their starting XI wrong
Sport Nation • June 11th, 2025 11:30 am
Ian Smith | Photo: Photosport
The ICC have clearly spared no expense with the World Test Championship between Australia and South Africa, which gets underway at Lord's on Wednesday night (NZ time).
Sport Nation's own Ian Smith has been deep in the trenches in London this week, where he's part of what's been pitched as the largest production in Test cricket history.
The voice of Kiwi cricket has been preparing for day one at broadcast meetings alongside fellow commentators including the likes of new Hall of Fame inductees Graham Smith and Matthew Hayden, as well as the familiar voices of Nasser Hussain and Kevin Pietersen.
The operation features a whopping grand total of 52 cameras spread across the 'home of cricket', which will - among other things - allow viewers to track players from the dressing room and through the famous 'Long Room' en route to the middle.
"I'm led to believe that it's the most cameras that have ever been put on any cricketing sporting event ever and the most people in the most production ever," Smith told Sport Nation Mornings from London. "They've thrown everything at it."
By virtue of finishing top of the ICC standings in the two-year cycle, South Africa were able to take their pick of the dressing rooms, opting for the home sheds at the neutral venue.
Smith believes the scale of investment in the game from the ICC makes an undeniable statement of how highly it still values red-ball cricket in the face of the white-ball takeover.
"It is just the pinnacle of Test cricket. That's the way they want to portray it.
"By doing that, of course, they're saying that Test cricket is really, really still important to the integrity of the game and to the essence of the game.
"They're throwing everything at it and making sure that this is a culmination of a two-year cycle. It's not just a one-off Test match."
Despite the absence of the hosts, Smithy says there's been a palpable air of anticipation and excitement brewing around the match.
"It's been a really big build up," he noted.
"Now that the teams have been named and the forecast is pretty good, I think it's going to be pretty close to a sellout for the first three or four days. There's a lot of expectation about what's gonna happen."
Why the WTC is very important for Australia | Whateley on SEN
In regards to the contest itself, Smith identifies the decisive factor in the match's outcome as how the Proteas' batting top order negotiates the early pace onslaught from the Australian bowlers.
On the batting side for the Aussies, he thinks the selectors have got it wrong with the "interesting" inclusion of the struggling Marnus Labuschagne.
"I personally wouldn't have played Labuschagne," said Smith.
"I know he's a fair player and he's had a decent record, but of late he's just been average.
"They've gone on the past in that regard and have reinvented him back into an opening batting role just to fit him into the side."
Over the past three years, Labuschagne's Test average has fallen considerably, from 56.29 in 2022, 34.91 in 2023, to 26.88 in 2024. He hasn't reached triple figures since the fourth Ashes Test back in 2023.
Josh Inglis would have received Smith's nod for the Australian XI, although he acknowledges the domino effect of such a selection.
"I'd have found room for Josh Inglis, who I think is a phenomenally good player. But that would have presented a problem about who's going to open the batting for Australia.
"If you're gonna play Josh Inglis you might've sacrificed Travis Head to open the betting and just see if he could get a flyer against South Africa the way he plays, but they didn't go that way.
As to who comes away with 'The Mace', Smith says Pat Cummins' side has has the edge, with veteran spinner Nathan Lyon's experience in manipulating the quirks of the Lord's offering an underrated advantage.
"South Africa may be worried about Nathan Lyons, particularly, as you know about Lord's, there's a slope in the ground.
"If they can use the slope as well as anything that's in the pitch, then Nathan Lyons could be really dangerous."
Listen to the full interview below:
