'Enlightening' Broad remains Aussie nemesis in retirement

The rib eye was good and the conversation enlightening, that was South Africa coach Shukri Conrad's assessment of the dinner he had with Australia's Ashes 'villain' Stuart Broad on Sunday night.

The Proteas have enlisted the former England fast bowler's expertise for the World Test Championship final at Lord's this week as they seek to topple the No.1-ranked Test team and breakthrough for their first major ICC title.

And it seems Broad, the most successful bowler in Test cricket against Australia with 153 wickets, was happy to help.

The 38-year-old joined Proteas training on Monday, spending a lot of time chatting with spearhead Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, left-armer Marco Jansen and bowling coach Piet Botha as the quicks went through their paces on the Lord's outfield.

The England great took 113 of his 604 Test wickets at the north London venue, second only to teammate Jimmy Anderson on 123. Just seven of South Africa's 15-man squad have played an international match at the Home of Cricket, with Broad also sharing his knowledge on playing at the famous ground during a sit-down with the group before training.

"We met as a coaching group with 'Broady' just a casual chat," Conrad said of the dinner the previous night.

"And if I didn't call time at 10.30pm, I think he'd probably still be sitting there chatting to us.

"It was really enlightening, really casual, and everybody walked away from there (thinking) 'that was great', Broady included."

Given the Ashes history between England and Australia, and particularly following the tense 2023 series where Pat Cummins said his side felt like "outsiders", the South African coach expects his team to enjoy most of the crowd support come Wednesday's five-day final.

"It's going to be humming in two days' time … I think all the English will be supporting us as well," Conrad said.

"It is a huge occasion, we can't wish it away, and these were some of the conversations we had last night.

"It's taking it in, just making sure you settle yourself down … and just to really embrace the occasion.

"There are going to be nerves, the excitement levels are starting to ramp up; it's a great occasion and I'd rather be part of it than not."

Both Conrad and Australia vice-captain Steve Smith expect spin to play a role as the Test showpiece progresses, with players from both sides already commenting on dryness of the Lord's pitch two days out from the start of the match.

England is fresh off its driest spring (March-May) in 132 years, and while there were showers last week that hampered Aussie training and South Africa's tour match with Zimbabwe, London is expected to heat up again this week with a top of 28C forecast for day three on Friday.

"I think spin will play a big part, particularly as the game wears on," Smith said on Monday afternoon UK time.

"It is dry.

"We only came here a week ago, but the reports are it's been pretty dry to start the season over here and hasn't been too much rain, which is pretty rare for England.

"But it does look like quite a dry surface, and I think the footmarks will definitely come into play as a game wears on."

While seamers have traditionally been more successful in Tests at Lord's, taking 85 per cent of the wickets in the past 10 years at a strike rate (47.4) more than 20 balls fewer than spin (69.5), Conrad pointed to the role Keshav Maharaj and Nathan Lyon would play in supporting their respective team's fast bowlers.

Maharaj bowled just 12 overs in the Proteas' most recent Test at Lord's in 2022 as the quicks took 27 of the 30 wickets to fall, but he and Lyon are among the top three overseas spinners in England in the past decade.

"It's not a venue where spin is a massive factor in terms of wickets taken, but it's shown that spinners can play a role here both as wicket-takers and doing an important holding role as well for your seamers to be effective," Conrad said.

"The bounce here with the older ball can be a little bit inconsistent and a bit slower than what we normally accustomed to.

"Those are pretty much the conversations that have happened and based on all of that, we'll structure our bowling attack accordingly."

World Test Championship Final

June 11-15: South Africa v Australia, Lord's

Broadcast exclusively on Prime Video in Australia. Sign up here for a 30-day free trial

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster. Travelling reserve: Brendan Doggett

South Africa squad: Temba Bavuma (c), David Bedingham, Corbin Bosch, Tony de Zorzi, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Lungi Ngidi, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne