Kagiso Rabada underlines his cricket prowess with another stellar display at Lord's

Daily Maverick

a day ago

Star quick Rabada's ability to compartmentalise and hyperfocus on what's in front of him when playing, is what gets him to tick in the most pressured situations.
Kagiso Rabada's five-wicket haul inspired South Africa's performance on their biggest day in red-ball cricket, helping to bowl out Australia for only 212 — despite the top-order batters stumbling to 43 for four at stumps.
When Proteas captain Temba Bavuma announced the squad for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia the day before action got under way, the reading out of Lungi Ngidi's name was the biggest surprise.
Outside of his contention for a spot in the playing XI with Dane Paterson, it also means that the team has three fast bowlers who have opened the bowling in Test cricket more often than they have been change bowlers.
Who would then open the bowling? Marco Jansen and Ngidi, who are perhaps the best exponents of swing bowling in the team, would battle it out for one spot.
The question of who would bowl the first over left no doubt. Despite not relying on the ball to move through the air as much as the aforementioned pair, Rabada's right hand was always going to deliver the first nut.
He's the leader of the pack, and in a moment as big as the WTC final, the only man South Africans want steaming in and setting the tone for the side.
From the Nursery End at 10:30am on Wednesday, he did exactly that, sending down a back-of-a-length 137km/h delivery that nipped away from left-hander Usman Khawaja, drawing oohs and aahs from the crowd, whose allegiance was mostly in favour of South Africa, at Lord's.
It took Rabada 20 more deliveries to send Khawaja back to the sheds – conceding only one run in his first 19 balls – and three more before he had his second — Cameron Green caught at second slip.
In the biggest Test match of his career, Rabada's figures at that stage read four overs, two wickets, five runs and three maidens.
A dream spell
His next wicket would come only in his third spell, although in his second spell he trapped Beau Webster plumb leg before, but it was given not out and wasn't reviewed by South Africa.
His dismissal of Aussie skipper Pat Cummins – a delivery that pitched on off-stump and instead of going with the angle, straightened and struck the off-stump – took him to 330 Test wickets.
The number is significant because it equals the number of Test wickets legendary South African quick Allan Donald has for the country. Rabada had only one Keshav Maharaj over to ponder on the weight of what that meant before he overtook Donald after nicking off Beau Webster.
In Rabada's next over, he clean bowled Mitchell Starc, beating him between bat and pad to claim a five-wicket haul, his second at the Home of Cricket.
'It's actually pretty cool to have it in the home change room now,' he said with a puffed-out chest at the post-day press conference.
South Africa finished the WTC cycle in first place, and so occupy the home changeroom at Lord's. In Rabada's previous five-fer at the ground, back in 2022 against England, he claimed five wickets for 52 runs. This time, he conceded one fewer run.
But what is it that makes Rabada so good? 'He's got good skills,' star Australian batter Steve Smith said after the day's play. 'He can shape the ball away, he can nibble it both ways.
'He's relentless, he's always at you, he's always up for the challenge, he charges in all day. His record speaks for itself, and he showed that again today.'
Rabada is now fourth on South Africa's all-time Test wicket rankings with only Makhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock and Dale Steyn ahead of him.
Emotions in check
At the beginning of May, Rabada was forced to sit out of cricket for a month after testing positive for cocaine use. It was a period of great difficulty for him.
It would be natural to assume that he would have something extra to prove, especially on an occasion as big as the WTC final. Not so.
'I didn't try to give any more or any less effort than I usually do in all the games I play for South Africa,' he said.
His ability to compartmentalise and focus on what needs to be done despite external factors is what has made him into the bowler he is. It may come across as robotic, but it's what makes him tick.
'It's just understanding what's the bottom line,' he explained on how he kept his emotions in check. 'And the bottom line is, if you're a bowler, try to bowl a good line and length. And as a batter, I guess it's about keeping the good ball out and scoring off balls that are not quite there, missed executions from the bowler.
'That's the bottom line. Everything else is just noise. The bottom line is cricket.' DM