Kagiso Rabada had his crowning moment guiding Proteas to WTC final win

Regardless of how he performed in the World Test Championship (WTC) final Kagiso Rabada would have gone down in Test history as one of the best bowlers in the format’s history.

But after his performance of nine wickets for 110 runs against Australia at Lord’s, the big quick has had his crowning achievement on the biggest stage. Rabada shared the floor with three of the great fast bowlers — Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc — to deliver a shared clinic in the art of fast bowling. But while the aforementioned trio were expectedly fantastic, it was Rabada who delivered his chef-d’oeuvre.

Kagiso Rabada is the only bowler in Test cricket history with a strike rate below 40 (with a caveat of 150 Test wickets). His is 38.98.

That means that he takes a wicket every six-and-a half-overs. He also has 336 Test wickets. The sample size is not small.

But now Rabada has a singular crowning moment, on the biggest stage, that’s cemented his legacy.

Special moments

South Africa’s success in the final relied on the small things going their way, which for so long in past global tournament campaigns had not.

The toss, best of English conditions and tough chances being gobbled up in the slips. Those all fell perfectly for South Africa.

But the most integral of all was Rabada’s performance as the only superstar in the team — although he didn’t look at it that way.

“I’m not going to go into the game thinking, ‘Man, I need to get seven wickets for us to win,’” Rabada said after the match. “I look at it as, ‘Okay, this is an opportunity for me to get as many wickets as I can and make an impact for the team.’”

The narrative around Rabada heading into the final was less about his prodigious on-field talent and more about his off-field cocaine abuse ban, for which he served a one-month ban in May.

The 30-year-old fast bowler, however, was able to compartmentalise and focus on what was important in the moment. Between the first bowl he slung down on Wednesday morning until the last runs were hit on Saturday afternoon, that was solely cricket.

There was a moment the team desperately looked to him to turn the match around. In the second innings, with Australia having a lead of 104 and all 10 second-innings wickets intact on day two, things were starting to look ominous for South Africa.

The pitch also seemed to have flattened out from day one, as Australia moved to 28 for no loss after 10 overs in the afternoon session.

With the sun beaming down and Rabada in the sixth and final over of his spell, he ran in, hit the pitch hard with a back of a length delivery that hit the deck before straightening and kissing the edge of Usman Khawaja’s blade. Kyle Verreynne snaffled the straightforward catch.

Two balls later, Rabada went fuller. The ball aimed at the stumps, full of good length, but when it pitched it jagged away from Cameron Green — who was playing across the line of the delivery — and took a thick edge that was caught at chest height by Wiaan Mulder at third slip.

While his first-innings five-wicket haul set the perfect tone for the Proteas, with his precise lengths and probing lines, he did have the best of the conditions of the match on that occasion and without the pressure of his side desperately needing something special in that moment.

“I’ve been working extremely hard and those second-innings spells, those are the ones that count more,” Rabada said. You’re] a bit tired. You could be behind the game or you could be ahead of the game.

“This time we were behind the game, but I think it was just about staying calm and looking at what’s in front of us.”

The star

While Rabada had a first innings to remember, which placed him on the Lord’s honours board for a second time, his fast bowling partner Lungi Ngidi did not, conceding 45 runs in eight overs with no wickets during a period when the Australian batters found run-scoring tough.

Rabada met with the media after his outstanding day one performance, and his advice to Ngidi was simple: “Have a milkshake, watch a movie and eat a steak.”

There were also actual tactical changes involved in Ngidi’s redemption in the second innings when he claimed three key wickets in a marathon nine-over spell on day two.

Rabada’s joy for his teammate was striking. After Ngidi had rapped Steve Smith on the pads but was not given out, tension built as Temba Bavuma had the decision reviewed. One at a time the three red markers appeared as Rabada leaped on Ngidi with all his weight, to celebrate the important wicket.

Rabada is the superstar in the Proteas side, but his modesty doesn’t allow him to see himself as any more integral to the side’s cause than anyone else.

“To be honest I don’t see myself as a star,” Rabada said. “I see myself as someone who’s willing to give my blood for this team and continue working hard and improving.

“That’s me as a cricketer, always wanting to improve and playing for the badge with a lot of pride.

“That’s the way I see myself and that’s the way that I’d like to see everyone play.”

Rabada is the star. Whether he sees himself as one or not is inconsequential, and in the WTC final, playing against three fast bowlers who have also been called that, his light shone brightest. DM