WTC Final: Matthew Hayden, Dale Steyn slam Australia's tactics on Day 3
Former cricketers Matthew Hayden and Dale Steyn were puzzled by Australia's defensive mindset on Day 3 of the World Test Championship Final against South Africa. From having the game in their hands after Mitchell Starc's heroic effort with the bat, the defending champions let it slip away after failing to pick up a single wicket in the final session of play.advertisementTemba Bavuma and Aiden Markram dominated the proceedings with a 143-run partnership, bringing South Africa on the cusp of history. The unbeaten partnership helped South Africa reach within 69 runs of the winning total, which stood at a massive 282 runs at the start of the final innings.Twenty-eight wickets fell on the first two days of the Test match at Lord's. Australia were able to dismiss opener Ryan Rickelton on Friday and then were able to brave a short Wiaan Mulder storm at No. 3. However, after the dismissal of Mulder, Australia went back into their shell and waited for either Bavuma or Markram to make a mistake. There were two catching opportunities against Bavuma on Friday, but Australia were not able to grab hold of a single one of them.advertisement
WTC Final, SA vs AUS, Day 3: Match Report | HighlightsOnce Bavuma and Markram started hitting runs, Cummins pulled back his fielders from catching positions and posted several of them in deep areas to stop boundaries. This made life easy for Bavuma and Markram, who ticked away with singles and doubles throughout the day."You know, this defensive effort here from Australia, it was all about how they were going to take wickets and how they were going to do that early," Matthew Hayden said after the day's play on Friday."You know, when they got through to Mulder, they got through Rickelton, and they had to put at that point pressure on Bavuma. They had to put those catching cover areas, had to be less defensive, more attacking. Can you imagine if those first couple of balls had been chipped up? South Africa now it's three down. Australia got control of the match. So for me, that was a trick," he added."The drifting of the nature of the game just allowed the rotation of strike, allowed that partnership to grow and build in confidence, and it just got away from the Australian bowling lineup. Yes, it's flat conditions, but you must take 10 wickets to defend the World Test Championship. You must take the top three out of play," concluded the former Australia opener.No Catching FieldersadvertisementDale Steyn was also surprised with Australia's tactics, and said that they should have had catching positions on a pitch where the ball was not even travelling to the slips."Yeah, a little bit surprised, I think. You know, you have to adapt with the flow of the game, and obviously today, we've seen the ball has been keeping really low, it hasn't really managed to make it to the slips, even from yesterday. And, you know, whenever we used to play, I would play a place like India, your short cover, short midwicket, it doesn't matter. They're as good as cordon slips in South Africa or Australia or something like that. So on days like this, when the ball is not travelling and it's not making its way to the slips, you have to have those guys in those kinds of catching positions," Steyn added to Hayden's point.Australia will come out on Day 4 of the Test match with 69 runs in hand. Assistant coach Daniel Vettori roared at the end of the day, stating that it was just a matter of one wicket for the side to make inroads into the Protean batting line-up.Must Watch
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First Post
21 minutes ago
- First Post
And after years of veering towards gates of cricketing hell, South Africa pitch up in paradise with WTC triumph
The overriding emotion from everyone with an allegiance to South African cricket, apart from the obvious delight, was one of relief. That this monkey was finally off their back, and that they will no longer personify the many possible slips between the cup and the lip. read more Temba Bavuma became only the second South African to win an ICC event as captain after leading the Proteas to a five-wicket victory over Australia in the World Test Championship Final at Lord's. Reuters Sport teaches life lessons. It advocates stories of camaraderie, of emphasising the collective over your own interests, and offers a chance to chase dreams that otherwise would have been put down as fantasy. But there is a crueller side to sport too. Where winning often becomes the only marker of success, or of how good a team or a player was. South Africa have been chastened by that. More times than they would want to recollect, actually. Theirs has been a team full of extraordinarily talented individuals, but somehow, they have not come together to win as many titles as their ability would warrant. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD So much so that whenever people talk about the Proteas, they remember them as that team that made a habit of fumbling at the finish. Fickle? Too short-sighted? Perhaps. But that is how sport and sporting memories work. Which meant South Africa needed something special to bin that narrative. And the . Proteas turn up like they have rarely ever done When session two of day three began, they were up against it. Australia had not run away with the contest, but they had a healthy lead, and had dismissed South Africa for 138 just a day ago. This, remember, was also a team burdened by the past. But then, South Africa turned up. Like they have rarely ever done. Almost dealing Australia a dose of their own medicine and playing, as the cliché would go, like champions. Aiden Markram, so often touted to have the world at his feet, but unable to marry it with consistency, crafted the innings of his life. And the best part was that it never felt out of character. Aiden Markram was adjudged the Player of the Match for his magnificent 136, which helped South Africa chase down the challenging 282-run target set by Australia with ease. AP Temba Bavuma showed indomitable leadership throughout the game, but especially in the run-chase. He was hamstrung (quite literally), and never let it show. Everything was so on-point and everything was so calm, which was further epitomised after South Africa won. There was happiness. But it was a quietly confident and controlled celebration. Like he wanted Australia and the world to know this will happen more often in years to come. A famous Indian captain (aka MS Dhoni) had done something similar years ago. And word is that he did just fine as a skipper too. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD There were hairy moments (of course there were) and those in South African colours might have gulped nervously when Kyle Verreynne tried to ramp South Africa to history and gloved it. But Australia had run out of reviews (and ideas) and this, anyway, was just meant to be South Africa's day and occasion. Not to mention they only needed one more run. Monkey finally off South Africa's back The overriding emotion from everyone with an allegiance to South African cricket, apart from the obvious delight, was one of relief. That this monkey was finally off their back, and that they will no longer personify the many possible slips between the cup and the lip. And now, South African cricketers can parade around Cape Town, Centurion, Durban, Gqeberha, Johannesburg and Paarl with world-champion medals around their necks. Knowing that when they look into the eyes of their people and see tears, those are of elation and ecstasy, and not disappointment. South African players celebrate with the ICC Test Mace at Lord's after defeating Australia by 5 wickets in the World Test Championship final. AP Several hundreds of them, lest we forget, flew thousands of miles, cheering their lungs out, spurring their team on and then rejoicing as the sun shone on their side - literally and metaphorically. And each of them, along with those back home, will tango all night long because the team of their hearts, subjected only to heartbreaks and heartburns previously, has laid its hands on the holy grail. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But that is not all. In an era where Test cricket and its financial viability occupies a significant chunk of cricketing conversations, South Africa, by virtue of being world champions, will now hopefully have more chances of playing this format, without worrying about how practical it is. Or without having to indulge in a direct trade-off, as was the case when Neil Brand led an incredibly inexperienced side to New Zealand last year. And that is why this team will be etched in South African cricketing folklore. As perhaps the squad that made Test cricket fashionable and feasible again in a country that has produced so many world-class cricketers. And most definitely as the side that ended a cricketing nation's enormously long wait to be called world champions. Silencing the doubters in some style There will still be those who argue that South Africa should not have had this opportunity at all. That their chances of being here, let alone winning the entire thing, would have dwindled if they had faced Australia or England during the qualification phase. But South Africa could have lost a three-Test series to Australia, and still finished second (comfortably). Cricket, of course, is not played with a pen on paper, nor with calculators. But even then, the idea that the Proteas did not deserve to be here, in a competition that from its very inception had a flawed concept around who plays whom, is just ridiculous. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Also Read | Steyn, Tendulkar lead tributes as South Africa defeat Australia to win WTC Final In tournaments, you have to beat what is in front of you. And the Proteas have done that every step of the way - capped off, fittingly, by outlasting Australia. Meaning that fantasy has now intertwined with reality. What was treated as fiction before, is no longer just a story seeking to be scripted. It is tangible, and it is South Africa's. No more conjectures, no more what-ifs, no more thinking about coming close but falling short, and no more waking up in the night, still brooding over what might have been. South Africa left absolutely nothing to chance and nothing to fate after lunch on day three. They stared down their ultimate peak, scaled the summit and then clasped destiny so tightly that it never even contemplated slipping away. From a poetic and psychological standpoint, it simply had to come against Australia, who until Saturday, had not lost a senior men's ICC final since 2010. And it had to come with Markram, who helplessly watched from the dugout as his team crumbled against India in Barbados last year, Kagiso Rabada, who felt he had let the team down after getting banned for recreational drug use, and Bavuma, braving the criticism, the questions, the odds and a hamstring injury, as the chief protagonists. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD And after years of veering, sometimes uncontrollably, towards the gates of cricketing hell, South Africa now pitch up in paradise, with the country and their fans experiencing cacophonic joy like never before. Having carved out the conclusion and crescendo they have craved for so long. A conclusion that, in bold and capital letters, will say South Africa are, in this format and for the next two years, the gold standard, and that they will be, whenever senior cricket is chronicled, remembered forever as being champions of the world.
Indian Express
25 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Pat Cummins after Australia lose World Test Championship final to South Africa: ‘Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma didn't give us a chance'
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News18
25 minutes ago
- News18
Cummins Pats 'Worthy Winners' SA For WTC Triumph: 'Demonstrated Why They...'
Last Updated: Australia skipper Pat Cummins reflected on their loss to South Africa in the ICC World Test Championship final, noting an extra batting session could have changed the outcome. After Australia's attempt to retain their International Cricket Council (ICC) World Test Championship title ended in a five-wicket loss to South Africa at Lord's, captain Pat Cummins remarked that the outcome might have been different if his team had managed to bat for one more session in the crucial match. Despite holding a 74-run lead after the first innings, Australia failed to prevent South Africa from successfully chasing down 282 on Saturday afternoon. 'Things can change quickly, but unfortunately, it was beyond our reach. With a solid first-innings lead, that's when you aim to bat the opposition out of the game, and we didn't manage to do that." 'If we had batted for another session, the conditions might have favoured us more. South Africa were excellent in that fourth innings. The pitch didn't offer much, but they gave us no chances. They demonstrated why they are here and are worthy winners, maintaining their position throughout," stated a disappointed Cummins during the post-match presentation. When questioned if the collapse in the second innings, where Australia were reduced to 73/7, was due to conditions or the top order's performance, Cummins responded, 'A bit of both. It's been an amazing two years, and the team has performed exceptionally to reach this point. It just didn't come together in this match. For the first two days, the bowlers were fantastic and consistently made the ball move, so it was probably a combination of both factors." First Published: June 14, 2025, 19:36 IST
