Big Ange entranced as 14 wickets tumble at Lord's on day one

The Age

a day ago

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.
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.
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.