One of the significant turning points on the opening day of the World Test Championship final at Lord’s on Wednesday came in the 29th over of Australia’s batting innings. After opting to bowl under overcast conditions, South Africa had reduced Australia to 67/4 at the stroke of lunch and early in the second session, they had a significant chance to send back allrounder Beau Webster who had just come out to bat alongside Steve Smith.
With getting a length ball to jag back in sharply, Webster got hit on the back leg and instantly went down in pain. There was a stifled appeal for LBW but it seemed South Africans heard a couple of noises and thought the ball had hit the bat before hitting Webster flush on the knee. But replays later showed the ball missed the bat and Webster was plumb in front on the ball-tracking system that showed up all three reds. The Tasmanian allrounder went on to severely punish South Africa, scoring 72.
At the other end, immediately thought South Africa missed a trick. “I heard it was out, is that right? Yeah – It looked pretty good to me from the other end. I don’t know what actually happened there. I know Beau was in a little bit of pain. I don’t think it actually hit his pad, I think it just hit his leg,” Smith said in the press conference after the day’s play. “Someone said they saw Rabada shape to say he might have hit it. Certainly, didn’t look like that from my view, but yeah, I was surprised they didn’t appeal more. I don’t think many people really went up, to be honest. Where I was, I was like, geez, that looks pretty good. But they had a chance to use a referral and didn’t.”
South Africa had the chance to review and dismiss Beau Webster when he was on eight… he went on to make 72.
Big moments from Day One ➡️
— CODE Cricket (@codecricketau)
Webster came through a difficult opening period before striking a partnership with Smith that now looks already like a match-changing one. “He’s done a terrific job,” former captain Smith added. “I think he was pretty annoyed at his first 30 balls today. Didn’t feel like he could spell bat for a little bit there, but you know, things can turn around really quickly in England and I think playing here actually suits him. The way he scores his runs, he scores really square of the wicket, so when the ball’s swinging around it suits him. He gets it on the top of the bounce being tall and like I said, he defends nice and straight and scores really square – which I think is a good trait in England.”
On his part, Smith rued a missed opportunity with the bat as he got out when well set. He hit a fluent 66 but lost concentration when facing part-time spinner Aiden Markram and edged him to slip.
“I think we are in a good spot, we had a few missed opportunities with the bat to try and get a bigger total,” Smith said. “The wicket offered something all day but we are in a pretty good position, 169 in front and they’re four wickets down. Hopefully it does a bit in the morning like it did today. It could have been a better day but we’re in a decent position. I felt good out there, I felt in a nice place. I love batting here at Lord’s and I enjoyed my time out there while I was out there. I left a few in the shed unfortunately. It felt quite tricky, it felt like wicket was doing enough all day. It was two-paced, at times it was slow and then at others it zinged through. When I got out, I felt like the ball was softer but the wicket still offered something and hopefully tomorrow is the same.”
In the process, Smith became the most prolific overseas batter in the rich history of Lord’s, though his latest innings at the home of cricket was brought to an end by an unlikely source in Markram – which did not go down well.
