World Test Championship final hangs in balance as Lungi Ngidi drags Proteas back into match

The World Test Championship (WTC) final between South Africa and Australia at Lord’s in England has been a match of expert bowling and batting collapses.

The Proteas were skittled for 138 after lunch on day two, having gone into the afternoon break on 121 for five. Australia, in their second innings, went into tea on 28 for two before landing on 73 for seven 12 overs later as 14 wickets fell on the second day of play, the same as the first.

Heading into the final session of day two, Australia would have felt completely in control of the match and positive of retaining their WTC crown.

They were 102 runs ahead with eight wickets in hand and their two batters with the highest Test averages at the crease: Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith.

But Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder and Lungi Ngidi in particular, turned the match on its head, combining for five wickets in eight overs, and conceding 30 runs as Kagiso Rabada’s support cast became the main stars for 45 minutes.

Ngidi had struggled for rhythm in the first innings, bowling all eight of his overs from the Pavilion End, with the famous Lord’s slope running from left to right.

In the second, he bowled his nine overs on the trot,  conceding just 35 runs and picking up three wickets. The difference was that he came from the Nursery End with the slope going from right to left, making it easier for him to exploit his natural away movement to right-handed batters.

Despite the cluster of wickets falling, all of the tracking data — in terms of seam and swing movement — for the match has played as it usually does, and in some areas with less movement than is typical at Lord’s.

So what’s the reason for 28 wickets falling in two days of cricket?

“I think it’s a combination of it being a tricky pitch, but I think when you have six quality seamers on a tricky pitch, it obviously makes batting tough,” said South Africa’s highest first innings run-scorer, David Bedingham.

Fight back

Conditions turned overcast quickly after the tea break, affecting the ease of batting, whereas batting had looked uncomplicated before.

Jansen got the first breakthrough after tea, dismissing Labuschagne (22 off 64) exactly as he had in the first innings: caught behind off a full, outswinging delivery outside the off stump.

Ngidi got into the action the next over with his first wicket of the match: trapping Smith (13 off 25) LBW with a ball that pitched on the off stump and held its line before carting into his pad.

Australia’s first-innings hero, Beau Webster (nine off 11), was Ngidi’s next victim, rapped on the pad right in front of his stumps as well, the first of three wickets to fall in three overs.

Mulder chipped in with his first wicket of the match, striking Travis Head (nine off 11) on his pad before the delivery clattered into his stumps.

Pat Cummins (six off five) gifted Ngidi his third of the innings, missing a leg stump half-volley which ricocheted from his front pad on to the wickets.

Southpaws Alex Carey (43 off 50) and Mitchell Starc (16* off 47) then rebuilt with a gritty 61-run stand, taking Australia — as scorching sunshine replaced the clouds — to 134 and a lead of 208 before Rabada returned to the attack from the same Nursery End and trapped Carey LBW.

The Lord’s pitch continued to play lower as the action moved deeper into the day.

Six chances dropped short of fielders behind the wicket after tea for South Africa, which led the slip cordon to inch forward towards the end of the day.

Jansen dropped a catch off the blade of Starc, bowled by Mulder, that flew straight to him at a close gully off the third-last delivery of the day, which would have seen Australia nine down at stumps.

Small margins, big collapse

It’s those small margins that could prove costly for South Africa in such a low-scoring match. The bowlers have also been ill-disciplined, despite hitting the right lines and lengths, conceding 19 no-balls across the two innings.

The Proteas fell away spectacularly in their first batting innings earlier in the day.

Before that, they did the first thing they would have spoken about overnight: survive the first hour without any wickets falling. They did that to outstanding effect. Bedingham (45 off 111) and Bavuma (36 off 84) scored 44 in 13 overs before drinks were taken.

Conversely, in the 22 overs bowled to the Proteas on the evening of day one, they scored just 43 runs and lost four wickets.

Bavuma, though, was dismissed by Cummins immediately before lunch. Kyle Verreynne (13 off 39) and Bedingham saw the team through to the first extended break of the day before chaos broke loose.

Cummins went on to get rid of Verreynne and Jansen (nought off three)  in one over, as well as Bedingham and Rabada to record six wickets for 28 runs in 18.1 overs. South Africa lost their final five wickets while adding only 12 runs.

South Africa will look to get rid of Australia’s final two wickets as quickly as possible tomorrow. Regardless, they will need to record the highest innings score of the match to claim victory and the WTC mace from Australia. DM