London: Ange Postecoglou watched intently from a box in the Tavern Stand as Australia and South Africa did their best to emulate the famous first day of a Lord’s Test match 20 years ago.
In 2005, England revelled in the dismissal of Ricky Ponting’s mighty Australians for 190, only to be flummoxed by Glenn McGrath and reduced to 7-92 at the close.
Pat Cummins of Australia celebrates after taking the wicket of Wiaan Mulder.Credit: Getty Images
If not quite so dramatic, the opening exchanges of the World Test Championship final carried a similar sense of undulation in north London, as Kagiso Rabada humbled Australia for 212, before Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood left South Africa wobbling at 4-43 by stumps.
For Postecoglou, who was happy to relax at side stage as a guest of Cricket Australia after two dramatic years with Tottenham Hotspur, the game’s fast-forward nature kept him and more than 26,000 other spectators very much on the edges of their seats.
There is brittleness in evidence among the batters on both sides, and they were fully stretched by quality fast bowling and a pitch that did more than its straw-coloured visage might have at first suggested. In all, nine wickets fell for 64 runs in the day’s final session.
Among the biggest cheers was for South Africa’s captain Temba Bavuma, who took 31 balls to get off the mark before squeezing Hazlewood behind square leg for a couple. The Proteas’ chances of a first innings lead are largely in his hands.
Ange Postecoglou looks on during day one of the World Test Championship Final between South Africa and Australia at Lord’s Cricket Ground.Credit: Getty Images
It may have been worse for South Africa. Alex Carey spilled Wiaan Mulder when Starc was in full flight, swinging the ball late from the Nursery End. While Mulder didn’t make many runs, he absorbed the rest of Starc’s spell, which might have turned four incisions into five or six.
Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins needed to be sharp because of what Rabada had produced. On Test match eve, Cummins was informed that England’s Jimmy Anderson rated Rabada a better fast bowler than the Australian captain. “Cool, no worries,” came the unflappable deflection.
Anderson, though, was left with reason for vindication and Cummins with some food for thought after Rabada ripped through his top order, seaming the ball treacherously on the perfect lengths advised for him by another former England seamer, Stuart Broad.
Recently returned from an illicit drugs ban, Rabada moved the ball around with the sort of skill Broad once demonstrated in multiple Ashes series, with one significant difference: he was bowling around 10km quicker.
Kagiso Rabada claimed Usman Khawaja.Credit: Getty Images
In his precise first spell, Rabada opened up Australia’s batting order by coaxing edges from Usman Khawaja and new number three Cameron Green. Later on, he ensured a mediocre total by knocking back Cummins’ off stump, then nipping out Beau Webster and Nathan Lyon in consecutive overs.
Given South Africa are using the home dressing room as the top qualifiers for the WTC, the MCC will need to find a way to differentiate Rabada’s 5-51 from all the other fine performances by England players on their home honours board.
Marnus Labuschagne, opening the batting in what amounted to a last chance for the ex-number three, played sturdily before squandering his start with an indeterminate fiddle outside the off stump at Marco Jansen. His Test place will now be in severe doubt for the looming West Indies tour.
Flu did not rob Steve Smith (66) of any of his recent fluency, and it was a surprise to every spectator when he edged the part-time spin of Aiden Markram to a juggling Jansen at slip.
“I’m still trying to fathom how I’ve done that,” Smith confessed after play. “We had a few missed opportunities with the bat to get a bigger total, but I think the wicket offered something all day and we’re in a pretty good position. It could have been a better day but we’re still in a nice position.”
Webster was fortunate early on – evading one lbw review and then escaping another more adjacent shout that South Africa did not refer – before he continued the strong contributions of his Test career thus far with 72.
Those runs meant that Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood had something to defend, and any South African plans to respond with positive intent were scrambled when Aiden Markram dragged onto his stumps in the first over of the reply.
Ryan Rickelton was bewitched by Starc’s swing and edged to first slip Khawaja – it might have been Carey’s catch – before Mulders and Tristan Stubbs were each beaten by seaming deliveries that splayed their stumps. David Bedingham hit Cummins’ last two deliveries to the boundary, an exception to much of what had gone before.
A day’s Test cricket at Lord’s may have brought some tranquillity for Postecoglou, but there was little of the sort for the batters. This championship bout already looks bound for an early finish.
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