India & Australia Test sides use The County Ground, Beckenham as training base

Kent Cricket can confirm that, ahead of last week’s World Test Championship (WTC) Final, both the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) & Cricket Australia utilised The County Ground, Beckenham as a training base ahead of the match at Kia Oval.

World Test Championship runners-up India were based in Metropolitan Kent from 25-28 May, coached by former Kent overseas star Rahul Dravid.

Eventual winners Australia were at Beckenham between 1 & 3 June, with Kentish connections being Matt Renshaw, who was an overseas player for Kent in 2019, as well as Marnus Labuschagne & Steve Smith, who have both featured in the Kent League during their careers.

This was the second edition of the WTC, which was introduced in 2019 to add context to the longest format of the game. New Zealand were the champions of the inaugural edition, beating India by eight wickets in the final at the Ageas Bowl.

In this final, India fought hard for six sessions starting with the third day to give themselves some hope on the final day, but Australia finally broke the resistance to win the World Test Championship for the first time.

Twice runners-up now, India have beaten Australia in the last four Test series between them – two in India, two in Australia – but Australia were the superior side in the conditions in England, where they will now play The Ashes against the hosts.

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