Wickets galore on Day 1 of the WTC final between South Africa and Australia
LONDON (AP) — Australia overcame a miserable morning to rock South Africa back on its heels by the end of day one of the World Test Championship at Lord’s on Wednesday.
Ball dominated bat all day as 14 wickets fell on a slow pitch for 255 runs.
South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada took 5-51 and new-ball partner Marco Jansen 3-49 to brilliantly rout the defending champion for 212, the last five wickets for just 20 runs.
But even in the baking sunshine, the Australia pacers were even more potent. Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and captain Pat Cummins strangled the Proteas batters to 43-4 in 22 overs by stumps.
The trickle of runs made Beau Webster’s 72 and Steve Smith’s 66 even more remarkable. They were the only batters all day to score more than 23.
“Starcy had the ball on a string,” Webster told the BBC. “It’s tricky for a batsman. Our bowling attack’s been so strong. We know if we don’t quite get it down with the bat, our bowlers will get it down. Outstanding effort from the boys.”
Australia’s 212 total looked to be below par until its fast bowlers made it seem imperious.
Starc got Aiden Markram to chop on for a duck in the first over of South Africa’s reply. Starc got the other opener, Ryan Rickelton, to edge to slips on 16.
Starc should have also had Wiaan Mulder on 1 but wicketkeeper Alex Carey dropped a sitter.
Mulder dug in for 44 balls to make 6 when he opened up to drive at Cummins and was bowled through the gate at 25-3. In the same over, Proteas captain Temba Bavuma defended and edged Cummins but the ball dropped just short of Usman Khawaja in the slips.
Bavuma would reach stumps on 3 off 37 balls but without Tristan Stubbs, who was castled on 2 by Hazlewood.
David Bedingham finished the day with consecutive boundaries, only his team’s fourth and fifth of a bleak innings.
Australia is defending the WTC mace it won for the first time in 2023, while South Africa is chasing its first ICC trophy in this century.
Proteas wisely bowl first
When he won the toss, Bavuma didn’t hesitate to put the ball in the hands of his two biggest threats, Rabada and Jansen.
They pounced on the bowler-friendly conditions: So overcast and gloomy that the stadium lights were turned on after the 10 a.m. toss.
Many of the Proteas hadn’t played at Lord’s but they’d done their homework; Rabada bowled up the slope looking for edges and Jansen bowled down the slope looking to nip ones in. They were disciplined and rewarded with four wickets in the first session.
Rabada’s wobble seam struck out Khawaja on a 20-ball duck for the sixth time in 11 tests, and Cameron Green on 4 in the same over. Green was batting at No. 3 in a test for the first time and edged Rabada to second slip, where Markram took a great ankle-high catch.
All this time, Marnus Labuschagne, Khawaja’s fifth opening partner in 17 months and opening for the first time in a test, scratched around the crease looking for rhythm amid a long, lean spell.
The veteran looked as set as is possible to be after an hour and a half in hostile conditions, scoring 17 from 56 balls, until he feathered Jansen behind and slow-walked back to the pavilion at 46-3.
Smith was joined by the aggressive Travis Head. In the 2023 final, they joined at 76-3 and partnered for 285 runs. Not this time.
Lunch was two minutes away when Head fell for a Jansen tickle down leg that keeper Kyle Verreynne took spectacularly with a diving one-handed catch.
Australia was 67-4 at lunch, during which the sun started peeking through. Lord’s lore says the sunshine makes batting easier.
Smith made hay. His ninth boundary brought up his 50 and Australia’s 100.
Webster rode his luck. He struggled to handle Rabada and Jansen but once they left he accelerated. Together, old stager Smith and the novice Webster — he debuted in January — cruised to 79 together and South Africa was flagging in rising temperatures.
Bavuma undermined South Africa’s cause with poor review decisions: They didn’t review a plumb lbw for Rabada, reviewed a lbw shout which hit the middle of the bat, and wasted a second review.
When Mulder wanted to change ends, Bavuma accommodated by giving the ball to part-time spinner Markram. He tossed one up and Smith, who’d passed his Lord’s average of 58, gave a thick edge behind to the 2.06-meter (6-foot-8) Jansen, who juggled the catch.
Webster, with his second test fifty, and Carey got Australia to tea at a healthy 190-5. But after the break Carey gave away his wicket to Keshav Maharaj and the tail collapsed in 26 more minutes, mopped up by Rabada, who was suspended only six weeks ago, and Jansen.
“He was unbelievable,” Jansen said of Rabada. “I could see in the game blood in his eyes.”
Rabada’s second five-for at Lord’s earned him a standing ovation.
But by the day’s end, it was the Australian fans applauding.
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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
By FOSTER NIUMATA
Associated Press
