India block Australia’s WTC Final prep by denying Lord’s access for pre-match training

The Australia National Cricket Team faced an unexpected hurdle ahead of their ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against South Africa as they were denied access to train at Lord’s Cricket Ground, where the high-stakes Test match is set to get underway on June 11.

According to reports, the Lord’s training facility wasn’t made available to Pat Cummins and his squad, while members of the India National Cricket Team were spotted using the ground ahead of their five-match Test series, starting on June 20 in Leeds.

India allowed in at Lord's, Australia left waiting ahead of WTC Final 2025

Despite India playing their first Test against England from June 20, and that too at Headingley, and their game at Lord’s being next month, from July 10, Shubman Gill and his players were reportedly granted early access to the Lord’s Cricket Ground, which raised eyebrows in the Aussie camp.

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Fox Cricket claimed that the India National Cricket Team was prioritized "at the expense of the Australian team," suggesting Pat Cummins and his team were effectively "booted out" to accommodate India’s training schedule at the Lord’s.

While the exact reason for the denial remains unclear, the decision really upset the Australian camp. However, the Australians were later allowed to train at Lord’s on Sunday, June 8, giving them some time to adjust to the conditions ahead of the WTC Final 2025.

Pat Cummins takes a dig at England over the Lord's drama

When asked about the incident, Pat Cummins didn’t hold back from throwing a cheeky jab at England. He recalled the ugly scenes from the 2023 Ashes series at Lord’s, when some MCC members hurled abuse at the Australian players and even physically confronted Usman Khawaja during the heated Jonny Bairstow run-out episode.

After which, an MCC member was thrown out of the club, and two others were suspended. Well, this time, Cummins suggested that things might be different. Hinting at the past behavior of the crowd, the Australian captain and star pacer quipped that those involved in the incident would likely be more well-mannered now, having “learned their lesson.”

Pat Cummins stated, “I think this is the best version of the stadium this morning. There's no one around, which is great. I'm sure it will be much more civil this time around. Things got pretty heated in the middle of that Ashes series, but I think a lot of them will have learned their lesson, and I'm sure they'll be very polite.”

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WTC mace matters, but 2023 World Cup win still No.1 for Pat Cummins

He is excited about the prospect of winning the WTC Final 2025 against South Africa, but said that Australia’s six-wicket win over India in the ODI World Cup 2023 remains his favorite.

Cummins was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au, “Having two maces is a really significant thing to show for that period of time—we feel like we have been the best team in the world across all different conditions, and to hold the mace at the end of that would be a great sign of something to point to now but also down the track.”

The captain signed off by saying, “The ODI World Cup of 2023 is going to be hard to top; that's number one for me. But I do believe the World Test Championship mace is just below that in terms of you're up against every other team in the world and you've been successful for a couple of years to make the final, so the mace means a lot.”