WTC Final 2023: Australia's Road to World Test Championship Final

Australia started their journey for the WTC 2021-23 two year's journey after finishing third in the WTC 2021 points table. New Zealand is the defending champion of the inaugural World Test Championship as they beat India in WTC 2021 final at Southampton. Australia will face India in the WTC Final 2023 on 7th June 2023 in London. Let's have a look at the journey of Australia in this two years season.

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Ashes Series – (December 2021-January 2022)

After narrowly missing the inaugural WTC Final, Australia started the WTC 2021-23 with the very prestigious Ashes series. This time Australia was the hosting country of the 5 match series against England. The five test matches have been played on Gabba, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, & Bellerive Oval. Australia started the series with a comprehensive win of a huge margin of 9 wickets in Gabba and took a formidable 1-0 lead in the series.

Confident Australia moved to Adelaide in the second test match of the series. Australia won the 2nd match with a whooping margin of 275 runs and they won the 3rd one as well by an innings and 14 runs. They drew the 4th test and again won the last test at Bellerive Oval by a margin of 146 runs.

With all the positive results in the four test matches, Australia won the Ashes by a 4-0 margin. Travis Head was the highest run-getter in the series with 359 runs in 4 matches with an average of 59.5. Pat Cummins, the skipper of the Australian team took the most wickets(21) in the series with an average of 18.

Australia tour of Pakistan, March 2022

In the next fixture, Australia moved on their first Test tour of Pakistan in 24 years and their first Tests overseas since the pandemic. This was a 3-match test series with matches in Rawalpindi, Karachi & Lahore. Australia drew the first two test matches before they moved into the final match of the series in Lahore.

Australia won the final test by 115 runs and also won the series by 1-0. The top run-scorer of the series, Usman Khawaja scored 496 runs, while Pat Cummins once more was the Top wicket-taker with 12 wickets.

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Australia tour of Sri Lanka, June-July 2022

Australia had another subcontinent tour in Srilanka on 2022 June. It was a two-match series where both test matches were played in Galle. Australia won both tests comprehensively, the first test by 10 wickets and the second test by an innings and 39 runs. Steve Smith was the top scorer of the series with 151 runs and Nathan Lyon was the highest wicket-taker with 11 wickets.

Frank Worrell Trophy – November-December 2022

Australia began their home season, after hosting the T20 WC with a two match test series against the West Indies. These two matches of the series were played in Perth & Adelaide. Australia won both test matches against West Indies with a comprehensive margin of 164 runs & 419 runs respectively.

Steve Smith made an inhuman record of 502 runs in 4 innings with an average of 167.33. Nathan Lyon took the most wickets(12) with an average of 21.12. With two back-to-back, 2-0 series wins Australia was on top of the WTC 2023 points table with 136 points, 76 percentage points.

South Africa tour of Australia, December 2022-January 2023

Australia's next home series was against South Africa in December 2022-January 2023. These three matches series of the series played in Gabba, Melbourne & Sydney. South Africa's batting unit just didn't show up & they only managed to score more than 250 in one of their five completed innings, with the highest individual score of 65.

Australia had comfortable victories in the first two test matches with a big margin and the rain in Sydney stopped Australia from having another whitewash. Australia was way ahead on top, with 152 points, 66.67 percentage points, and India was in the second position with 127 points, 58.8 percentage points in WTC 2021-23 points table.

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Border Gavaskar Trophy – February-March 2023

Australia was in a comfortable position and they need to win one of their four Tests in India to secure a spot in the WTC final 2023. This was a four match series where the matches were played in Nagpur, Delhi, Indore & Ahmedabad. Australia lost the first two test matches against India at Nagpur and Delhi before they moved to Indore for the third test of the series.

They secured the crucial victory that was needed to qualify for the WTC Final 2023 with another three-day Test in Indore. Australia drew the series finale at Ahmedabad which ensured their place in the WTC decider. Sri Lanka's loss to New Zealand in Wellington also confirmed India's place in the final as they took home 28 WTC points for the series to Australia's 16.

World Test Championship 2021-23 Points Table