‘Worst fears' as Aussies frustrate Proteas in World Test Championship final

News.com.au

18 hours ago

South Africa was battling its 'worst fears' as Mitchell Starc's half-century subjected the Proteas to a frustrating start to day three of the World Test Championship final against Australia.
After 14 wickets fell on another chaotic, ball-dominated day at Lord's on Thursday, Australia entered day three on 8/144 in its second innings, a shaky lead of 218 runs.
Following so much batting carnage in the match to date, the Proteas would have expected to quickly knock Australia over and set about chasing down a total that would break their long drought in major cricket tournaments.
The Aussies had other ideas, however, digging in doggedly to continually thwart South Africa and gradually build their lead past 250.
It started well enough after Nathan Lyon (2), who will surely be more valuable with the ball in South Africa's second innings, only added one run to his tally before becoming Kagiso Rabada's ninth wicket of the match.
That brought Starc (5 not out) and Josh Hazlewood (17) together and they bogged down for a 59-run stand for the 10th wicket, taking Australia to 207 and a lead of 281 when Hazlewood finally fell on the stroke of lunch.
'This is infuriating the South Africans,' Kevin Pietersen said of the partnership on Prime Video.
'Who would have thought the last partnership would have put on this many?'
It all left South African captain Temba Bavuma struggling for answers.
'It's been an hour of frustration for Temba Bavuma in particular,' former Kiwi keeper Ian Smith said earlier on Prime.
'His worst fears, in terms of a low-scoring game, is that this would happen to him in this first hour.
'(That) he would still, still be bowling. And that will be the case here at Lord's.
'An hour of play, painful play for South Africa, and they can mull it all over on a drink. They much need it.'
Indian great Ravi Shastri used the same word when he described the scenario for South Africa.
'This is frustrating, there's absolutely no doubt about that,' he said.
'Look at the body language of the South Africans around the ground, you can see that.
'They're playing the waiting game, they know the importance of this partnership. Not often you chase down 250 in the fourth innings at Lord's.'
Former South African captain Shaun Pollock was at least trying to find some positives from the impressive rearguard from Australia's final batting duo.
'If it's that difficult to get these batsmen out, (South Africa) have to believe the surface has flattened out,' he said.
'You have to go into the dressing room and say 'OK, not ideal, we would've liked to wrap it up'.
'But if they can look comfortable, then you have to have belief that when you get your chance, you can make it count.'
The South African side has a long history of reaching the pointy end of tournaments, only to fall short.
Ex-England skipper Nasser Hussain laid out the situation on Prime Video, pointing out the country's lone major title came at the Champions Trophy 27 long years ago.
'The run chase, if it does become mind games, Australia are serial winners in all formats,' he said.
'South Africa, we all know the history, they know the history. It was 1998 the last time they won an ICC event.
'Since then it's not like they've gone missing, they've had a fabulous record since then getting to semi-finals and finals and will be desperate to get over the line.
'Twenty-one semi-finals, four finals and that one win across men and women.'
Hussain also took a little shot at fellow former English batter Kevin Pietersen as the Australian duo batted on.
'The best bit about this session is Kevin Pietersen went down about an hour and a half ago to be ready for a flash interview and he's been down there since,' he said with a chuckle.
Fans watching on were also commenting on the extensive wagging of the Aussie tail on X.
One tweeted: 'Crazy valuable runs these. Really gritty cricket from Australia.'
A South African fan lamented: 'This is very frustrating, we are just not showing enough hunger for success.'
Another cricket fan wrote: 'Every time the Australian team faced a batting collapse, Mitchell Starc and other lower-order players, who are not even called batsmen, brought Australia back to their fighting ways. They won't let you raise your head. This is Aussie mentality.'
One fan declared: 'There is a very good chance that Starc & Hazlewood are winning the #WTCFinal for Australia with the bat.'
A fifth stated: 'Aussies are built different!!!'
If Australia is able to prevail and win this match, it will become the first team to win the WTC mace twice.
In the short history of the event, New Zealand beat India by eight wickets in the 2019 final before Australia also overcame the Indians by 209 runs two years ago.