South Africa firebrand Kagsio Rabada threw a mighty first punch, before Australia’s pace juggernaut reclaimed the advantage by stumps on day one of the World Test Championship final.
Rabada, playing his first Test since serving a one-month ban for testing positive to cocaine, justified Proteas captain Temba Bavuma’s call to bowl first in the Lord’s showpiece on Wednesday by taking 5-51 as Australia were skittled for 212.
But in a battle of supreme fast-bowling units, Australia struck back through left-arm wizard Mitchell Starc, reducing South Africa to 4-43 at stumps. Starc (2-10) should already have three wickets, but wicketkeeper Alex Carey spilled a regulation opportunity behind the stumps from a Wiaan Mulder edge. Only two days ago, the usually clean Carey spoke of the challenges of keeping at Lord’s due to the ground’s famous slope.
Mulder (six) failed to capitalise on the dropped chance, bowled by Australia captain Pat Cummins. Bavuma (three) will resume in the middle on Thursday with David Bedingham (eight). Steve Smith, who became the highest-scoring visiting batter in Tests at Lord’s, anchored Australia’s innings with allrounder Beau Webster (72).
Seemingly cruising towards a 37th century, Smith inexplicably fell to part-time spinner Aiden Markram for 66 before tea.
Standing at 206cm, Marco Jansen managed to juggle the catch in the slips, giving Markram just his fourth Test wicket and ending a 79-run stand. Smith was left in disbelief at being dismissed by Markram after getting through lethal spells from Jansen and Rabada. South Africa used two unsuccessful reviews on Webster, but failed to refer a third which would have had the towering Tasmanian trapped lbw for only eight.
With Australia batting underneath overcast skies in London, Rabada ran riot in the seventh over by taking two wickets in four balls.
The 30-year-old removed Usman Khawaja (a 20-ball duck) and Cameron Green (four).
In his first Test since March 2024, fit-again Green hit his first delivery to the boundary at fine leg in a promising start.
But the 26-year-old was gone just two balls later, edging a Rabada rocket to slips where he was superbly caught by Markram. Marnus Labuschagne, in his first innings as a Test opener, started brightly to get through until drinks. But as he often has during the last two years, the under-pressure Queenslander struggled to keep the score ticking over. Labuschagne got caught between playing a shot and leaving a Marco Jansen delivery, nicking off for 17 from 56 balls.
The 30-year-old, who was once described as having “opening-itis”, won the battle to be Khawaja’s fifth opening partner in 18 months over teenager Sam Konstas.
The spectre of Konstas, one of Australian cricket’s rising stars, will now loom even larger for the upcoming three-Test tour of the West Indies.
Labuschagne’s last Test century came back in July 2023 at Manchester.
Travis Head, who starred with a matchwinning 163 in Australia’s WTC final triumph in 2023, was out on the final ball before lunch. Wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne hung on to a screamer down leg side off Jansen’s bowling to send Head (11) on his way. South Africa, who won seven-straight Tests to qualify for the final, are attempting to break a title drought in ICC tournaments dating back to 1998.