Redemption day for Ngidi

A change of ends made the world of difference to the big South African

ICC World Test Championship Final. Lord’s, London. Day Two: Thursday, June 12.

First innings:

Australia: 212/10 (56.4 overs)

South Africa: 138/10 (57.1 overs)

Second Innings:

Australia: 144/8 (40 overs)

Australia lead by 218 runs

South Africa won the toss and chose to field

And breathe.

Two days into the ICC World Test Championship final and it has felt like a lifetime of cricket, like every great cricket match of any format crammed into six sessions. Thursday was a day of biffs, bangs, wallops, wickets, luck, skill, redemption and hope.

Fourteen wickets in one day again. The “win predictor” was at 50-50 at the end of it, no one could separate these sides, perhaps no one really wanted to. Tomorrow may, should be the last day, but, if there is sun out on Friday morning then this match could stretch on. One more day of this? Yes please.

It was, again, a time for the bowlers. Pat Cummins, Australia’s captain, took six wickets and went past 300 for his career. Coming in from the Nursery End, Cummins finished with six for 28 with South Africa 74 runs behind. He saw off Temba Bavuma, David Bedingham, Marc Jansen for a duck and Kagiso Rabada, whom he bounced and hit more than once. The less said about Keshav Maharaj’s run-out the better. There may be a big of movement in this pitch, but some of the shots were a little risky.

South Africa’s batters were not give the space to push on, suffocated by Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazelwood and Nathan Lyon. Australia’s batters struggled yet again to deal with Rabada, for whom superlatives have run out. He was magnificent again, unplayable at times, but it is the balls in between his wicket-taking deliveries that are working towards the plan.

Lungi Ngidi’s first day didn’t quite go to plan, but his second did. With Australia 32 for two at tea, Bavuma brought him on from the Nursery End, the one from which Rabada and Cummins have prospered. He trapped Steve Smith leg before for 13, Beau Webster, Australia’s highest scorer went the same way for nine and Cummins was bowled for six.

Stuart Hess, writing for TimesLive from Lord’s, had the lowdown on his success: “At the end of the first day, when asked what advice he might give to Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada mentioned, steak, milkshake, a movie and a good night’s sleep. Ngidi wouldn’t confirm if he followed any of his good pal’s counsel – besides the sleep obviously. But as it turned out, all he needed was to change ends. ‘I was just struggling with a bit of rhythm from (the Pavilion End). I swapped ends and I felt a lot better,’ he told the BBC. At the Pavilion End, where the infamous Lord’s slope runs from Ngidi’s left as he bowled, it would have felt like he was falling away from the stumps. For visiting bowlers it can always be a challenge here no matter how many overs are done at training.”

Rabada was, again, the destroyer in chief, his four wickets included Usman Khawaja, Cameron Green and Alex Carey.

The sun and the clouds, like the flow of match, came and went on the morning of the second day of the ICC World Test Championship final. It was overcast before play started, then sunny when South Africa took the crease, then overcast when Bavuma lost his wicket.

This final has had a little bit of everything and in the last over before lunch it had a little of controversy. Bedingham got an inside edge into his pads off Beau Webster, where it lodged inside the flap. As Australian wicketkeeper Carey sprinted up to get the ball, Bedingham grabbed it and dropped it on the ground.

The Australians turned to the umpires. Was that not out with Bedingham having handled the ball, or, as it is now part of the obstructing the field law? Usman Khawaja was the most vocal, Carey, who had received death threats after his controversial run-out of Jonny Bairstow at Lords in 2023, took off his helmet, smiled, shook his head and walked away. He wasn’t getting involved this one. The umpires Richard Illingworth and Chris Gaffaney consulted and decided the ball was dead as it was stuck in the batter’s equipment, the correct decision.

To rub it in, Bedingham hit two fours from the last three balls of session. It was, considering that they had started on 43 for three, South Africa’s session, with Bedingham and Kyle Verreynne finding a rhythm. South Africa scored 78 runs in the session and lost just one wicket. One more little stat about that controversy, Australia won that 2023 Ashes match at Lord’s by 43 runs, South Africa’s overnight score. Perhaps it is a sign for the Proteas.

If “slope” was the most over-used word on commentary on Wednesday, “intent” was Thursday’s word of the day. Miller felt there was “a certain dignity in South Africa's strokeless defiance, most particularly from the captain Bavuma, who will resume on three not out from 37 balls on Thursday morning with another vast burden to shoulder”.

Bavuma played with intent resolve in the first hour even as he and David Bedingham were beaten by Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood respectively. An aggressive lofted cover drive by Bavuma for four off Starc in the third over of the morning brought a roar from the packed stands. The 50 came up with a single one ball later. Cue nervous applause from the packed stands. Another lofted square drive for four followed off the second-last ball of the over.

Bedingham had looked nervous, but found his timing to send a Starc in-swinger to the boundary as he and his captain clocked up runs. Then came Bavuma’s moment of luck as he was given leg before off Hazlewood, walked down the pitch and looked at Bedingham in confusion. With four seconds left on the DRS clock, he reviewed. To the naked eye there looked to be the smallest of gaps between bat and ball, but snicko showed a spike, there was the thinnest of inside edges and the captain lived on, but not for long.

Two more fours, both through the covers, a pulled six, the first of the Test, off Pat Cummins followed, but a barren, frustrating spell against Lyon enticed him to show a little too much intent and was well caught by Marnus Labuschagne off an attempted lofted cover drive that he looked to check too late. Cummins celebrated. Bavuma stood at the crease and practiced the shot, then walked off to think again.

He didn’t have too long to think and his captaincy, particularly the use of Ngidi, was marked by resolve and bravery. Day three awaits with bated breath.

TEAMS

Australia: Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey +, Pat Cummins (captain), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.

South Africa: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickleton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma (captain), Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne +, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi.