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.