Live Report - Australia vs South Africa, World Test Championship final

For two hours in the middle of day two, Australia had one hand on the mace after taking a 74-run first-innings lead at Lord’s. For the next two, South Africa did their utmost to prise their fingers from it and for the one after that, Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc shared a 61-run eighth wicket stand as they tried to hang tight. As things stand, Australia still have a few fingers on it after a gripping day of Test cricket.

It was, once again, a day for bowlers on what looks like a good batting pitch. Fourteen wickets fell on day two, the same number as the first day, for a total of 28 wickets in six sessions.

Pat Cummins stole the early headlines when he became the first visiting captain to take a five-for at Lord’s and then went on to pluck his 300th Test wicket. Then it was over to Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen who had Australia 44 for 3 before Lungi Ngidi, back in the Test side after 10 months and off a poor first innings, redeemed himself with three wickets in a nine-over spell which broke Australia open.

Where things stand at the end of the day is that South Africa will already have to pull off the fourth-highest successful chase at Lord’s and do it against Australia’s unrelenting attack. That means it’s probably still advantage Australia after a breathless seven-and-half-hours in a final that has hit fast forward.

Final over of the day... and Starc gets a life as Jansen fumbles at gully! The cordon has been persecuted all day, they've had to creep closer and closer with the balls endlessly falling short... and finally one zips off the splice, and it's onto him too quickly! Zoinks!

Two balls, and two runs later, we reach the close. Australia lead by 218 with two wickets standing!

We're into the final ten minutes of the day, and Kagiso Rabada thuds Carey's pads from round the wicket! The finger goes up, it's full and angled in, Carey reviews... to no avail! It's shown to be clipping leg on umpire's call. And Carey's priceless knock ends on 43.

Every bit as important as his runs is the speed at which they came. He and Starc have stretched that lead at more than four an over, which has been a demoralising acceleration for South Africa after the efforts they made to get back into contention. Now, however, the tail is fully exposed.

Rabada seems to be stretching his groin at the top of his mark. But after another no-ball, he finds Lyon's edge but it falls short of slip... again!

The edges keep coming, including an incredibly low one off Carey to Verreynne that reaches him on the half-volley, to Rabada's dismay. Then Starc leaves a ball from round the wicket that zings over the top of his middle stump. But between them, Australia's eighth-wicket pair have drawn the sting, and a nudge off the pads from Starc takes that lead to 200. In the context of what's gone before, that feels ... significant.

Is this the moment for South Africa? No it is not! Alex Carey steps into the length from Marco Jansen and gets thumped on the knee-roll. Umpire Illingworth's finger goes straight up, but there is a review. It could have been high, but instead it's a thin inside-edge, not unlike Bavuma's earlier in the day.

Carey's response is a drill through the covers for four. The stand extends to 32, the best of the innings - beating the 28 that the openers added a session and a lifetime ago. Starc, meanwhile, is playing a fine hand in support of Australia's last recognised batter.

The drinks have done the trick for the moment for Australia. Stiff ones for Carey and Starc as they gird their loins and set their sights on the close. The edges are still coming, but they are routinely bouncing short, even with Aiden Markram clearly taking a step forward at second slip.

But, back come Rabada and Jansen for a final push before the close... can South Africa end an epic session on a further high? The close of play, incidentally, will be 6.06pm, thanks to that short rain delay.

74 for 7, and an hour of this still to come!

A wicket has fallen every 31 balls in this Test!

Strewth, it's another one! Pat Cummins thumps an emphatic boundary, then gets cleaned up by a yorker! It's speared in full, deflects off the pads, Ngidi has three in a stunning spell!

Six..six... (for) six ... the number of the beast. Hell and fire has been released!

Travis Head is the next to go, in a stunning surge from South Africa's seamers. It's Wiaan Mulder's turn to get in on the act, with a wonderful wobble-seam from round the wicket. Utilising the overcast conditions to mess up Head's alignment. It pitches on off stump, it nips back off the seam, thumps the back pad and wrecks the stumps. Australia's most dangerous man is gone for nine. This is going to be a bar-brawl to the finish!

Lungi knows... it's full, it's straight, it's angled in at the top of middle. Ngidi's appeal is more of a beatific absorption of the moment, as Beau Webster plays outside the line once more, and this time cannot get help from DRS and non-appeals. He had just edged his final boundary down through the cordon, but he's gone now for 9, and Ngidi is in a sweet, sweet rhythm.

Kagiso Rabada's advice to his team-mate after a tough first day was on point. "Have a steak. Have a milkshake. Watch a movie." He'll watch this spell back a few times. At 65 for 5, the lead is 138... which is exactly what South Africa made first time out...

The clouds have been closing in, the floodlights have been in full beam for several overs now. It's not been easy for batting out there, but Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne hadn't looked especially troubled ... until now!

Out of the blue (or grey, as it happens), Labuschagne winds into an ungainly wipe through a full length from Jansen. It was very wide, and fairly full, and presumably there to be bashed. But somehow he loses his shape in the process and scuffs a nick through to the keeper. He's gone for 22, having made 17 in the first dig... on both occasions, they have been decent starts and insubstantial finishes... 56 balls first time around, and 64 now.

If that was the boost that Australia needed, then the bonus comes six balls later! Smith, on 13, is pinned in front of off stump by a pumped-up Lungi Ngidi. It's a huge initial appeal, but umpire Gaffney says no. South Africa review... and there is an utter explosion of joy from the fielding side as three reds pop up on the big screen! One ball later, he nips one wickedly off the seam to Beau Webster, who just about keeps it out. Drama in excelsis!

Jansen, incidentally, has got Marnus three times in five innings now, for a total of 35 runs. Bunny status loading...

Andy Zaltzman on TMS (but unquestionably through the power of Statsguru), notes that Australia's top three have contributed a total of 49 runs in six innings in this Test - their lowest completed return in England since 1890.

While the on-field umpires did not think so, and while we still don’t know whether Australia Pat Cummins withdrew the appeal or declined to appeal in the first place, we decided to take the query to Fraser Stewart, MCC’s Head of Cricket and their former gatekeeper of the Laws.

According to Stewart, the right conclusion was reached either way, although he acknowledged the ball could have been considered to be still in play as Bedingham moved quickly to pick it up from his pad-flap.

"The ball was lodged in the pad and it was probably stationary for a nanosecond and then, as Bedingham moved to go and pick it out, the ball itself was moving again,” Fraser told ESPNcricinfo. “Obviously, he got the inside-edge and, with that in mind, potentially a catch is on the cards (but) Australia didn't really appeal with any significant seriousness.”

Stewart said that, under the Dead Ball Law (20.1.1.4 and 20.1.1.5), once the ball is “trapped between the bat and person of a batter or between items of his/her clothing or equipment”, it becomes dead ball and Bedingham was “free to pick it up”.

“So it's a subjective decision over whether the ball had been lodged there for long enough,” he added. “It was, for me, the right decision for the game, but perhaps a very strict interpretation of the Laws might say that the ball hadn't been completely stationary, it was still moving, and therefore, Bedingham should be out Obstructing the field.

“But there would be far more be noise around it if it had been given out that way, rather than us discussing it now that it hasn't been given.”

It had been an ominously peaceful start to Australia's second innings, as their lead extended past 100 ... but Kagiso Rabada isn't done just yet! Two wickets in three balls send a jolt of electricity around Lord's, as Steve Smith marches out to a chorus of boos ... pantomime or otherwise, there's no escaping them in England, even in a neutral Test.

First to go is Usman Khawaja, caught behind off another superb round-the-wicket delivery, which squares up the left-hander to take the nick to the keeper.

It completes a bleak contest for Khawaja, after a 20-ball duck in the first innings, and a further grind of 6 for 23 this time. At the age of 38, and with a tour of the Caribbean coming up, you begin to wonder how much longer he has got... but then again, he did get a double-century three Tests ago, and as Pat Cummins said (in relation to Marnus Labuschagne) before the Test: "[we'd] rather give someone an extra little run than pull the pin too early."

Still, Khawaja's returns are riches compared to those of Cameron Green. Three centuries in a stellar stint for Gloucestershire made an unanswerable case for his inclusion, but it turns out that Division Two in the County Championship isn't quite the preparation you might need for Rabada. His Test lasts a grand total of five balls, as he dangles his bat outside off to his second delivery, and steers Rabada to third slip for a duck. Rabada has both men in a single over for the second time in the Test.

Australia head into tea on 32 for 2... not quite such a rosy scenario as it had seemed 15 minutes ago.

Metronomic is what we usually associate with Hazlewood, but Cummins is equally punctilious and highly disciplined, regardless of whether he is bowling in Sydney, Ranchi or Lord’s.

There’s no secret sauce to his success: just bang the ball on the seam, on the right length and lure the batter into committing the mistake. But finding that right length is not something fast bowlers find it easy, let alone doing it at will.

Yes, Jasprit Bumrah does it for sure, and then there’s Cummins. The Australian captain would’ve seen how Kagiso Rabada succeeded on the first afternoon, sticking to certain lengths on a pitch assisting seam as well having enough carry.

Of the five wickets Rabada picked up, three came from short-of-a-length deliveries, and two pitched on length. Overall Rabada bowled 80 of his 95 deliveries on those lengths.

While Cummins did use the short-of-length option frequently, the majority of his deliveries were pitched between the hard length and fuller length, drawing the batter to play at the ball. Cummins bowled 44 balls on length, sticking to the off-stump channel while picking up three wickets and giving away 7 runs; he also bowled 27 balls on the full length off which just 5 runs were scored while two wickets fell.

While questions have been asked of whether South African batters were too timid in scoring, Cummins’ aggressive intent with the ball, which has been backbone of his success, never allowed them to feel comfortable.

South Africa fought hard before lunch, but it's been a blizzard of wickets since the resumption. And now, with the sun out, and a handy 74-run lead banked, it's going to take a hell of an effort from their bowlers to get back into the contest now.

A day of landmarks for Pat Cummins. His place on the Lord’s honours board, a six-wicket haul and his 300th in Test cricket. It was an immense performance from Australia’s captain. Lifting his team when it needs it most has become a calling card for him. The game wasn’t quite on a knife-edge when he began making today’s inroads, but South Africa were threatening a fightback.

Since lunch he was supreme, with his spell reading: 4.1-1-4-4. There was the lbw to remove Kyle Verreynne, after the pair clattered into each other mid-pitch, a leading edge gathered off Marco Jansen, the outside edge found off David Bedingham then, finally, Kagiso Rabada brilliantly caught at deep square leg.

Cummins’ efforts, supported by Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and a tidy spell from Nathan Lyon, has earned Australia a lead of 74 which, the way the match is playing out, feels substantial. Cummins not only has another memorable haul, he may have one hand on the mace.

He's a bit good, really. Pat Cummins claims his fifth sixth wicket, and his first entry on the Lord's honours board, as David Bedingham's vigil ends with a snick to the keeper for 45. It's typical tight-lined harassment from Cummins, finding extra nip up the slope after drawing the batter in with the initial angle into the stumps.

Not long afterwards, South Africa are nine-down, after a lax piece of running leads to Keshav Maharaj's run-out - he came back for the second after a nudge to backward square, and was caught short by a flat return.

And then, with Kagiso Rabada on a hiding to nothing, he swings across the line at Cummins' next delivery, and picks out a diving Beau Webster at deep midwicket! Cummins' post-lunch spell is a sensational 4.1-1-4-4.

South Africa's post-lunch slump is very similar to that of Australia post-tea yesterday. It was 5 for 20 in 35 balls then, this one is 5 for 12 in 35 balls.

So much drama in the third over after lunch... but the upshot is that Pat Cummins has marched along to 298 Test wickets with the scalps of Kyle Verreynne and Marco Jansen for a duck, and South Africa have slumped to a ropey 126 for 7!

First, though, there was another extraordinary flirtation with (the spirit of?) the Spirit of Cricket ... Australia are being pursued by such moments today!

The incident occurred as Cummins fired in a full-length delivery, angled into Verreynne's pads. The ball deflected to the leg-side, and the batter put his head down and sprinted ... straight into Cummins' back as he turned towards the umpire for a vociferous appeal! The collision is inevitable and leaves both men flat in the middle of the pitch, with the non-striker's stumps at the Australians' mercy. Shades of Ryan Sidebottom and Grant Elliott at The Oval in 2008, when Paul Collingwood decided he wanted to play tough and insist on the run-out.

However, Cummins is far more interested in the original appeal! HawkEye duly serves up three reds, to South Africa's surprise, as the ball was certainly angled down the leg-side. But Verreynne is on his way for 13 from 39 balls.

There's significantly less debate three balls later however. Marco Jansen's long levers could have been handy in reducing this deficit. However, he manages only a tame stab back up the pitch, for Cummins to grab the return catch in his followthrough. After a morning of hard toil, South Africa are back up against it, with a hefty deficit looming unless David Bedingham can eke something out from the tail.

Final over before lunch... and Alex Carey is on the cusp of another Spirit of Cricket rumpus! The incident occurs as David Bedingham plays back to a length ball from Beau Webster, and inside-edges into his pad-flap. The ball is still wriggling around as Carey swoops round to gather, and clearly looks ready to fall back towards the turf - and potentially into the keeper's gloves - as the batter reaches down and grabs it before it can drop!

It's clearly an appeal-worthy moment ... Michael Vaughan was given out for a less palpable moment in an India Test many moons ago. Although, since 2017, that mode of dismissal has been subsumed into Obstructing the Field... as per Law 37.3.1

Also relevant is Law 20.1.1, which pertains to when a ball becomes dead.

But I wonder how much the events of 2023 are in the keeper's mind as he swoops round. The umpires consult, the fielders grin and grimace, and in the end, umpire Illingworth signals dead ball. Hmm... Carey is being pursued by narrative in this contest! Off they troop with the game in the balance at 121 for 5, a deficit of 91.

Australia have again bowled very well this morning, but unlike yesterday evening they only have one wicket to show for it. Not for the first time they are grateful for Pat Cummins’ ability to strike when batters are set. Temba Bavuma had played very nicely before driving on the up to cover.

Josh Hazlewood was metronomic during the session, but it was interesting that that the ball that almost brought a wicket was fuller than his usual length. Ahead of the game he spoke about pushing up a touch fuller in English conditions. Meanwhile, Nathan Lyon put together a very economical five-over spell that cost just two runs; unlike against the quicks, the South Africa batters were rather in their shell against him.

However, a bad session for South Africa this morning could have left them too much ground to recover. They still have a hefty deficit to make up but have kept their heads above water.

Ten minutes to go until lunch, and the weather is closing in around St John's Wood. But, have no fear, my trusty seaweed assures us we'll be back in action pretty soon after lunch. Though there might be a half-hour delay.

This time there's no reprieve for Temba. He's played well through the covers, chasing the width with intent and without fear of taking the aerial route. But this time, he plays a touch too loosely to Pat Cummins, and Marnus Labuschagne leaps in the covers to end a gutsy knock. Thirty-six runs in total, 3 from 37 last night, and a further 33 from 47 today. His 64-run stand with David Bedingham has nevertheless changed the tone of this innings, with the deficit now down to 118.

Cummins, meanwhile, nudges up to 296 Test wickets... and he's still only the third most prolific in this attack, and the fourth most prolific in the contest!

Time for a change of approach from Australia, as Nathan Lyon enters the attack after a solitary over on the first day.

It was here, in 2023, that Lyon infamously tore his calf while fielding in the Ashes Test. Asked on the eve of the game whether he was keeping everything crossed for the avoidance of a repeat, Pat Cummins responded: "Yes. Yeah, I wish you didn't say that."

South Africa are 81 for 4 at the end of the 34th over... meaning they've almost doubled their overnight 43 for 4 in barely half the number of overs, and without further loss. Factor in a key reprieve for Temba Bavuma, and their morning could hardly have gone better.

It feels unfair that you haven’t even waited a full hour before asking me to do some work - and risk jinxing everything (I am of the Neil McKenzie school of superstition) but I am cautiously optimistic about what we’ve so far from South Africa.

We know David Bedingham is an attacking player, and saw it with his two fours to close out the first day, but it's Bavuma who can sometimes raise eyebrows with his approach. Let’s just say he doesn’t mind taking his time and given South Africa’s position and their history of being brittle over the last few years, his go-slows are justifiable, but he has got some go-forward so far.

Bavuma's two lofted drives over cover were nothing short of magnificent but I also like the more proactive approach to strike rotation. Somewhere in the back of his mind will be the obvious: he was out on 17 and some technological miracle kept him there. If you don’t take advantage of those moments, especially in a big game, you’ll kick yourself. No kicking yet, except on. Maybe.

Another fascinating moment in a Test that won't stay still for long. On 17, Bavuma is pinned in front of all three by the relentless Josh Hazlewood, and reviews after a long and reluctant contemplation. Let's face it, when it comes to balls going over the stumps, South Africa's captain isn't the likeliest candidate for such a reprieve, but his wicket is worth the gamble on DRS ... and so upstairs we go.

And lo! There's a spike of inside-edge as the ball goes past the bat! He clearly didn't know he'd not hit it, and the accompanying TV image appears to show daylight between bat and ball, although the gap between frames is potentially a factor in that.

Either way, it is about as slender a let-off as it is possible to get in Test cricket. And given how this partnership with David Bedingham has begun this morning, with real and tangible intent from both men at both ends, it's vital for South Africa's hopes. Even another half-hour of this tempo could chew that deficit down towards double figures...

Aggression from the outset... up to a point. Temba Bavuma was a picture of stoicism on the first evening, but his opening stroke today is an inside-edged drive off Mitchell Starc, who then beats him outside off after another expansive waft. It's a small sample size, admittedly, but maybe a clue that yesterday's grind is unsustainable for a team that has to target parity at the very least in this first innings.

And then, off the final ball of the over, he gets another drive away, into the covers where a fumble gifts him a second run. Josh Hazlewood then re-tightens the screw with a maiden to David Bedingham, but the die is cast. As if to prove the point, Bavuma plants his front foot to Starc's next delivery, and levers a launch up and over the covers for his first boundary... more runs than he'd managed in 37 balls last night!

Hello again WTC thrill-seekers. It's day two of the final between Australia and South Africa, and after 14 wickets fell on a remarkable opening day, it's hard to know quite what's in store today, except more fast-forwarded action. South Africa did their utmost to slow down time with the batting tempo in the evening session, but by the time they'd lost four wickets, they were still 169 runs adrift of parity, and probably in need of something more urgent...

Funnily enough, that's what I argued in my end-of-play analysis ... but were South Africa configured to go harder?

Up until that point, however, the day belonged to Kagiso Rabada. Back in harness after his month-long drugs ban, and clearly very eager to put his recent past behind him. He did so in style with a wonderful five-wicket haul, then fronted up in a very impressive press conference afterwards. Firdose Moonda pays tribute to his enduring brilliance.

It was a weird old day for Alex Carey too, back at the scene of his Ashes-igniting dismissal of Jonny Bairstow two years ago, and doubtless earning the wrath of his wife Eloise for unfurling that wretched reverse-sweep once again... a dropped catch compounded his personal woes, though Australia's seamers had closed ranks around him to take the spotlight off him by the close. Nevertheless, Andrew McGlashan documents his endeavours.

David Bedingham finishes the day with a misleading flourish of two fours in two balls. But the grind will go on tomorrow. Fascinating stuff.

Australia's quicks followed what Kagiso Rabada started as the defending champions hit back strongly on the opening day of the World Test Championship final. The contest had been billed as a battle between two attacks and in all 14 wickets fell to suggest the destination of the mace could be decided sooner rather than later.

Rabada’s 5 for 51, the second time he has got his name on the Lord’s honours board, kept the defending champions to 212 before Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood struck back during the final session to leave South Africa tottering on 43 for 4 and looking towards their captain, Temba Bavuma, for inspiration.

Australia’s reshaped top three had fallen before lunch after Bavuma had been pleased to bowl first under overcast skies. But at 146 for 4, with Steven Smith set, and 192 for 5 they had an opportunity to recalibrate themselves only to lose their last five wickets for 20. Aiden Markram removing Smith was up there with one of the more unexpected wicket-taking combinations on offer in this match.

Australia needed a response and Starc provided it in the first over (again) when Markram dragged on an inswinger. He should quickly have had a second, but Alex Carey dropped a regulation outside edge off Wiaan Mulder although he didn’t have to wait too long when Ryan Rickleton nicked a drive to first slip.

Mulder, batting at No. 3 for just the third time in Tests, laboured to 6 of 44 balls before being beaten on the drive by Cummins. In the closing moments of a day that was never short on action Hazlewood, back in the side after injury, produced a gem of a delivery that nipped back through Tristan Stubbs. Concerns about South Africa's batting order were ringing true, not that Australia's had looked convincing.

HazleGod. A stunning delivery from the metronomic Josh Hazlewood, not so much nipping the ball up the slope as thrusting it back off the seam, and through Tristan Stubbs' gate. Such control of movement from an invariably perfect length. And at 30 for 4, South Africa's hopes of a first-innings lead seem a long, long way away.

The moment arrives with an compact nudge off the pads through square leg off Josh Hazlewood, and he even rushes back for the second. South Africa's captain is into credit at long last.

The grind is done, and it's an undignified end for Wiaan Mulder. Pat Cummins aims just a fraction fuller than before, finds some shape through the air and through the gate, and Mulder is left looking dumbfounded as his bails are sent spinning with the top of middle knocked back. Six runs from 44 balls at No.3 is not a pretty return. You could argue there was something in common with Hashim Amla's legendary 25 from 244 balls at Delhi in 2015... but this was not a rearguard on a fourth-innings dustbowl. At the very least, he has helped soften the new ball for the incoming Tristan Stubbs. But at 25 for 3, the lack of forward momentum is telling.

A long, long time ago, way back in the second over, Wiaan Mulder got off the mark first-ball with a pushed single into the covers. Eleven overs and 34 consecutive dot-balls later, he finally did the same to Mitchell Starc, to double his tally. Ironic cheers rang out around Lord's, but you have to be in it to win it. And having survived that critical life off Carey, he was clinging on to good effect.

Another edge off Cummins falls inches short of Steve Smith at second slip, then Mulder doubles his score again with a soft-handed edge down through deep third. Every little counts, especially with Temba Bavuma yet to get off the mark in 13 balls. As South Africa themselves showed with the ball this morning, life will get easier when the ball gets softer. But with Nathan Lyon and Beau Webster waiting in the wings, it's unlikely to be a rest cure for the remaining 35 minutes of the day.

Starc's shape through the air is something else. Curling from that left-arm line, luring the drive on a teasing full length, but it keeps bending that half a bat's width too far for Ryan Rickelton's alignment ... the edge is a thick one, Khawaja at first slip makes no mistake. It was a promising knock, studded with three lovely fours. But unfortunately for South Africa, those strokes have been the exception, not the rule so far. Tough times in prospect as Australia sense a real chance to turn the screw.

Another huge moment in this contest, and it's that man Carey who lets it slip.

His reverse-sweep is already drawing askance looks, given the collapse it instigated. But now, with Mitchell Starc in the midst of a thrilling new-ball burst, he's handed Wiaan Mulder a life on 1. A full length outside off, enough of that habitual movement to take a fat, palpable edge. It's an utter sitter to the keeper, but the ball bursts clean through his gloves, clangs his chest, and falls to the turf. The moment is so low-key, it almost passes unnoticed. Starc looked ready to celebrate, then bailed out, as one might when you realise it wasn't a nick after all. And given how Carey fell, the ball was obscured from view. But the replay leaves us in no doubt. How crucial will that be!

At the other end, Ryan Rickelton has rifled two superb straight drives to move into double figures. Most of South Africa's forward momentum has come from two shots. It's that sort of a day.

Quite the statement performance with which to put his recent troubles behind him. Here's the full list of South African wicket-takers

Now then... suddenly 212 on the board looks rather more healthy. Mitchell Starc steams in from the Nursery End, with that tight left-arm line, shaping in at the right-handed Aiden Markram, threatening to move either way, and cramping him for room each and every ball. The sixth is the money shot - bending in wickedly, kicking off the pitch, into the inside-edge and down into the stumps. Markram is gone for a sixth-ball duck. Game on!

Alex Carey and the reverse sweep. We’ve been here before. His wife, Eloise, has previously made clear her thoughts on it. “My wife is the harshest critic of the reverse. She says, 'don't play the bloody reverse sweep, not again,” Carey joked in 2023. “But I just politely tell her, 'you haven't played the game. Yes, you're going to get out to reverse sweeps and sweeps... but it can also produce some success as well.”

His decision to play it when he did on the opening day at Lord’s will come in for plenty of scrutiny. From 192 for 5, and the prospect of reaching 300 if he and Beau Webster could continue under clearing skies, suddenly turned into a lower-order collapse.

Carey’s numbers with the reverse sweep illustrate the risk-reward factor. In Test cricket he has scored at more than a run-a-ball with it (129 runs from 113 balls) and been dismissed on six occasions. He used it to good effect in Sri Lanka earlier this year, but conditions at Lord’s were certainly not Galle. Yet, as for so many modern players, Carey sees it as just another of his shots. Today it went wrong.

Nathan Lyon drives loosely at a full length from Jansen and has his stumps rattled. Then Kagiso Rabada bursts through Mitchell Starc's defences to complete a wonderful five-wicket haul. And just look at that post-tea meltdown. South Africa could not have dreamed of a better restart. 212 all out, after five wickets for 20 in 35 minutes.

"Once we got here it felt really special," Rabada says in a post-innings interview. "We were ready a week ago. Hopefully we can get some runs on the board. It means a lot for me to play for South Africa, I give my all each and every time. I got the rewards today. It was moving around a bit, touch slow on the shorter side, but as the ball got softer they showed intent. But any ball had their name on it. It means a lot to get past Allan Donald [on 332 wickets]... what a legend."

Beau Webster's innings is done! It might have ended significantly earlier, but South Africa will be happy enough for it to come now, in the midst of a post-tea surge that is looking like rolling Australia aside for significantly less than 250.

The moment comes after two fours in three balls had carried Webster to 72. A fierce pull and a delicate flick off the pads had taken some lumps out of the over, but Rabada responds with a wobble-seam delivery in that channel outside off. It induces a loose waft, for Bedingham to cling on at first slip, and Webster waves his bat in annoyance as he turns on his heel. Rabada has four, he's got one more than Donald, and the sun is now starting to beat down on Lord's. At 210 for 8, the gloom is increasingly to be found in Australia's dressing-room.

Pitch off, hit off! Gosh, that would have done many a better batter than Pat Cummins... but, as England well remember from the 2023 Ashes, Australia's captain is a very dangerous man when he gets set in an innings. Instead, Kagiso Rabada wastes no time in picking him off for 1 from six balls ... he could have been more in line to help see off the threat, but the late movement from Rabada, straightening off the pitch, would have harassed his edge had it not been the top of off stump.

Rabada, meanwhile, has his 330th Test wicket, with draws him level with a certain Allan Donald.

First ball of the second over after tea, and Keshav Maharaj prises a key wicket that gives South Africa a huge boost for their evening endeavours. Alex Carey had played one pre-meditated sweep already in his innings - off his very first ball, from which he was lucky to survive after a graze of glove saved him from an lbw appeal. This time, it's a first-ball reverse-sweep against the senior spinner... Maharaj loops it up outside leg at 49mph, and dips it beneath an ill-conceived stroke. It thuds into the stumps to end his innings on 23. At 192 for 6, it's back in the balance. Maharaj, incidentally, is onto 199 Test wickets.

A cut out to deep cover, and Beau Webster moves through to his second Test fifty, from a brisk 69 deliveries, though that doesn't quite tell the full story. He could have gone lbw on 4 and 8, the latter being especially plumb but South Africa failed to review. And he's lived dangerously outside off throughout, including another inside-edge off Jansen that flew past the leg stump. But it's a vital contribution to Australia's cause nonetheless, as they move through to tea on 190 for 5.

Wow. This match has taken a remarkable turn, literally so, as the unassuming offspin of Aiden Markram makes the vital incision. It's Steve Smith on 66, and it leaves Australia on 146 for 5. The moment comes via a slashed drive to Jansen at slip, who fumbles the first opportunity in his left hand, pats it up with his right fingertips, then clings on at the third attempt, using his full reach to ensure the moment isn't lost.

Markram appears to have come on at the Pavilion End to provide a change of ends for Wiaan Mulder... who in turn had had to come into the attack when the leaky Ngidi left the field with an apparent niggle. Fortune smiles on South Africa at last, in typically unusual circumstances.

A penny for Dane Paterson's thoughts. He's been ensconsed at Lord's since the start of the summer, plying his trade for Middlesex and gleaning vital insight into the unique conditions at this ground. After all that, he's been omitted from the starting XI in favour of Lungi Ngidi, who hasn't played a red-ball match for 10 months - and so far in this contest it is showing.

Ngidi is the visible weak link in South Africa's attack so far. His eight overs have been picked off for 45 runs, at close to a run a ball. And on his watch, Beau Webster has been allowed to settle... so much so, that when Bavuma reviewed a third lbw appeal on 23, the replay showed the ball was smashing into the middle of his bat! What South Africa would have given for a bit more luck and/or judgement in those first two appeals.

More width outside off from Rabada, and Smith slashes eagerly up and over deep third to bring up his fifty and keep Australia's innings moving onwards. It's been a gutsy and crucial knock, from 76 balls with nine fours, and when he nudged a single shortly afterwards, he became the highest-scoring overseas batter at Lord's.

Ahead of this match, Steven Smith said he felt ready after one net despite not picking up a bat for three months. Australia have been grateful he has backed up those words. He has been the only batter to look close to comfortable in the opening exchanges of the final. The exaggerated back-and-across movement that has featured on previous visits to England has been on a full display – on occasions it has got him into some odd positions but, as so often, it works for Smith.

He has been aggressive since lunch, taking advantage of some width from Kagiso Rabada, and could well hold the key to the shape of this innings. The boundary which took him to his fifty put him level with Warren Bardsley as the leading overseas batter at Lord’s and a single a short while put him top of the list. From the moment he debuted at the ground, it’s played a central part in the story of Smith’s career.

Beau Webster at No.6 ... it's been a struggle in these nibbly conditions, and he's needed a vast stack of luck to endure so far. Twice in as many overs, he survives an lbw appeal by the skin of his teeth, and on both occasions it is his commitment to getting outside the line that gets him off the hook.

First, on four, he's pinned in front of off by Marco Jansen, beaten on the inside-edge with his bat playing down a fourth/fifth-stump line. Temba Bavuma reviews, and the ball is shown to be smashing middle, but it's umpire's call on impact.

One sumptuous cover-drive later, and this time it's Kagiso Rabada's turn for a near-miss. It's a similar approach from Webster, playing outside off again and buckling visibly as the ball thuds into his knee. Bavuma thinks about the review, but gestures to his team that he thinks it's an inside-edge. It's nothing of the sort... it's a flick from front pad to back, and it's plumb in line of everything.

A big moment missed... but South Africa scent blood, with Webster all at sea for the moment, even as the sun begins to creep out from behind the clouds. With Steve Smith nearing his fifty, this innings is at an inflection point.

Lunch Australia 67 for 4 (Smith 26*) vs South Africa

Head is beheaded on the stroke of lunch! Incredible moment for South Africa, who grab their fourth in the final over of the session, and in bonus fashion too! It's short and down the leg side from Jansen, Travis Head, who loves to put bat on ball and can't resist chasing it. Verreynne leaps to his right to cling on, and the brave decision to bowl first has paid rich dividends.

South Africa will be fairly happy utterly ecstatic! with their work in the morning session, particularly that of Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen, and their catching. Kyle Verreynne iced the cake with a stunner to his right to dismiss Travis Head on the stroke of lunch and leave Australia four down. Earlier, David Bedingham and Aiden Markram both held on to good grabs in the slips, each with someone else diving across them. Still, there may be some concerns about the change bowlers.

Lungi Ngidi was the wildcard selection - and picked over Dane Paterson - and in his first spell, looked like a player who hasn't had a red ball in hand for 10 months. There were some good deliveries (the ball that beat Marnus Labuschagne stands out) but in general he was too full. Wiaan Mulder has picked up a yard of pace and does a decent job as a fourth seamer and has the backing of Bavuma for long spells. South Africa chose not to roll the dice and bring Rabada on before lunch for a quick burst, but with two wickets apiece for him and Jansen, South Africa will go to lunch satisfied... thrilled!

It's been an ominously poised start from Steve Smith, notwithstanding a tight appeal for lbw off Jansen on 26, shown to be umpire's call on leg stump.

Moments earlier, however, he crunched the same bowler through the covers, to draw level with a certain DG Bradman among overseas run-scorers at Lord's. And, uniquely, he is also facing his third different opponent as a visiting player here, having featured against Pakistan in 2010, which was also his Test debut.

Huge moment in this contest, as Marco Jansen returns to the attack, and blows Labuschagne away with a classic fast-bowler's one-two. First up, a fast, furious bouncer, round the wicket with that lanky left-arm line, banged in hard and rising viciously into the shoulder and away over the keeper for four leg-byes. Then, immediately, a fuller fast length outside off, drawing his quarry forward when his instincts were holding him back... Verreynne swallows the edge, and South Africa have their third in a dream morning.

In comes Travis Head, the main man of the 2023 final... and with a massive roll to play. There are about 25 minutes to go until lunch. Rabada, surely, needs to come back for a quick pre-lunch burst. If Head isn't allowed to settle, Australia will be right up against it.

After all, it was 86 for 3 when Head and Smith came together against India at The Oval two years ago ...and duly compiled a 285-run stand... been there, done that...

The hard graft hasn't eased up since South Africa's new-ball bowlers ceded the stage to their nibblier team-mates. Lungi Ngidi, back in action after 10 months, and Wiaan Mulder have combined well to hassle both Smith and Labuschagne in the channel outside off, inducing a handful of false strokes, including a leg-glance from Smith that would have been gobbled up by a conventional leg slip. On 17, Labuschagne padded up to Mulder as the ball nipped into his front pad, though the impact was outside off. Three overs, three maidens. No freebies.

In many ways, it's been a very old-school County Cricket passage of play, with lively medium-pace demanding solid techniques and watchful accumulation. Mulder has been a stalwart at Leicestershire over the past few seasons, while Labuschagne - famously a member of the "Stevo's gonna get ya" WhatsApp group from a few summers back - has experienced this drip-drip approach for several seasons at Glamorgan. He didn't have much fun in his two outings this summer... scores of 0, 4 and 23 weren't much to write home about. But the lessons learned could be handy today.

Much of the focus leading into this Test was on who would partner Usman Khawaja, but the first morning at Lord’s has posed some familiar questions for Khawaja himself.

He fell for a 20-ball, edging Kagiso Rabada from around the wicket. It’s an angle of attack that has troubled him significantly: since the start of 2024 he is averaging 18.63 and been dismissed 11 times by quicks coming around to him, compared to 43.80 for five dismissals against the line over the wicket.

He’s faced some very good bowlers in that period, but there’s a clear pattern. It was only two Tests ago that he scored a career-best 232 in Sri Lanka, but those came in conditions that didn’t challenge him the same way. He still needs to do some convincing that, against quality quick bowling, his best years aren’t behind him.

Absolute scenes in the seventh over of the morning, as Kagiso Rabada rips out two in four balls to ignite South Africa's challenge!

First up, it's a super take from David Bedingham at first slip - not clean, mind you, but then he did have to contend with Aiden Markram diving into his eyeline at second as he clung on high on his chest. Usman Khawaja is the man to go, via that round-the-wicket line from Rabada that Stuart Broad was doubtless expounding during his day as a bowling consultant this week... no doubt, he'll be credited for it in some capacity before the day is out!

"I'm a neutral now, just enjoying the cricket, but with a bit of a smile on my face," says Broad on the host broadcast ...

In comes Cameron Green, fresh from three centuries for Gloucestershire in Division Two of the County Championship ... and his first runs are about as easy as he's been handed all summer, as Rabada loses his line and hands him a freebie four, clipped off the pads. But two balls later, he's back on his mark from over the wicket, finding the low edge at a full, fast pace... and this time it's Markram clinging on despite distraction from Mulder at third slip, whose left arm spears into the frame just as the ball fizzes by! South Africa are clearly on it like a bonnet this morning. Alert, to the point of being almost too alert! But at 16 for 2, the toss gamble is already being justified.

One over later, it's inches from being 18 for 3, as Labuschagne jabs off his hip, and inches short of leg gully, a position in which he was extracted in the Sheffield Shield final. He's done a lot of work on that line of attack... as indeed have South Africa, it would appear...

It's close, it's gloomy. It's a trial by pace for Australia's openers as Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen hammer their lengths from the outset, with a bit of each-way nibble and good carry to the keeper. Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne are under the cosh, with Labuschagne presented with three slips, a gully and a short leg as he faces up to Jansen. The first runs don't arrive until the 22nd delivery, and they are via an inside-edge down past the leg-stump ... although it retrospectively transpires that the 21st was a front-foot no-ball, which causes a lengthy delay while the various parties work out the implications. South Africa need a wicket to justify bowling first, but they are doing their utmost to deliver it.

The teams march out through a sea of sparklers, to stand in front of two vast flags and the ICC's Cricket4Good banner, and there's a flash of green and gold fireworks ahead of the anthems (conveniently, a single job-lot of pyrotechnics covers both teams). And as the anthems finish, the ground disappears in a further fusillade of fireworks and smoke. This is happening, folks!

Meanwhile, Nagraj Gollapudi has got his crayons out, and is getting very colourful about the pitch that's been prepared for this contest:

"A bright, creamish carpet tinged with faint green – the Lord's pitch is like a strip of band aid in the middle of a verdant green. But don’t let that fool you into thinking it could be flat. The groundsman Karl McDermott has been busy using the heavy roller in the week leading into the final. As a consequence, the grass has been padded in but the the surface is likely to be hard and provide good bounce across the five days."

A big cheer goes out from the South Africans in the stands as heads is the call from Temba Bavuma, and down it comes...

"The overhead conditions dictate that we bowl first," says Bavuma. "We've selected the best team for these conditions. It's a massive occasion, we all have some sort of allegiance to Lord's and we can hear the South African accents in the stands."

Pat Cummins is happy to bat first. "A few clouds but quite dry. Preparation has been unreal, all 15 guys pushing for selection. Everyone has come together for ten days' preparation. No extra pressure, we've won it before, go out and enjoy it."

So, it's the best-case scenario for South Africa, you sense. A chance to unleash their strongest suit, their bowling attack led by Kagiso Rabada and the lanky Marco Jansen, against an Australia batting line-up that includes Marnus Labuschagne in an unfamiliar role at the top of the order. Big first hour coming up. But when is it not?

Here's what Andrew McGlashan makes of it all ...

With Temba Bavuma asking Australia to bat it provides an early test for the reshuffled top three on an overcast day at Lord’s. Marnus Labuschagne will be in there straightaway with his Test career on the line, having been moved up to become Usman Khawaja’s fifth partner in 12 Tests.

For Labuschagne, this potentially defining moment comes at the ground where his career hit lift-off in 2019 when he was parachuted in as Steven Smith's concussion sub and, for three years, didn’t look back.

However, this WTC cycle has been tough with an average of 28.33 since the start of 2023 Ashes and just one century. The big question is: what would be a pass mark for Labuschagne in his new role?

Meanwhile, Cameron Green will have his pads on as he prepares to resume his Test career at No. 3. This could be a little different than Division Two life with Gloucestershire. The pitch itself didn’t scream bowl first, but Bavuma has looked up. He said yesterday that Australia’s top order was something his team could exploit and his star quicks – Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen – will have first crack.

Australia: 1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Marnus Labuschagne, 3 Cameron Green, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Travis Head, 6 Beau Webster, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh Hazlewood

South Africa: 1 Aiden Markram, 2 Ryan Rickleton, 3 Wiaan Mulder, 4 Temba Bavuma (capt), 5 Tristan Stubbs, 6 David Bedingham, 7 Kyle Verreynne, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Lungi Ngidi

Three times, the World Test Championship final has been staged in England... with a total of four different nations participating, none of them the hosts themselves. And, to judge by the first impressions of a hugely busy Wellington Road, and a massive throng outside the North Gate, this latest staging - and the first at Lord's - will be every bit as well attended as the first two.

Obviously, the very first one, at the Ageas Bowl in 2021, occurred against a backdrop of Covid lockdowns, and with torrential rain wrecking the first four days. But, as I wrote at the time, the support for the two finalists - India and New Zealand - was extraordinarily enthusiastic, even allowing for the limited numbers that were permitted to attend. And, as we've seen in recent World Cups in the country, this would have been the case for whichever teams made it to the showpiece, such is its multicultural base.

Case in point, the vast support for the South Africans at this event. The visiting media are out in force, and anyone who knows anyone seems to have found a means to wangle a ticket. There are plenty Aussies too, of course, but it's perhaps not quite such a novelty to find them in attendance at a showpiece...

Anyhow, all promising signs as we await the toss. Can the action live up to the expectation. Here's hoping!

Everything that should have been said about and to South Africa ahead of the WTC final has been said. However, Temba Bavuma has one last piece of advice to his players before the first ball is bowled: “Just be the player that you know, and we need you to be.”

And that's as simple as it is: There’s no mystery, no secret weapon, no hidden agenda. The XI, and Lungi Ngidi specifically given his 10-month absence from Test cricket, have been picked for the strengths we all know they have and despite their inexperience.

Four South Africans have never played a Test at Lord’s and one, Ryan Rickelton, will have to front up first. The other three are also batters: Wiaan Mulder, Tristan Stubbs and David Bedingham. Bavuma backs them to do what they've always done.

“The way Rickleton has come into the team and almost cemented his position as opener, there's a reason behind all of that. Whatever he's done to do that, let him continue that,” Bavuma said. “And Stubbo as well. He is an exciting talent. He has an opportunity for him to show why he's highly revered within our circles.”

The same four have never played a Test against Australia but the other seven have, albeit one of those, Aiden Markram, was not on the 2022-23 tour in which South Africa lost 2-0. “That was a little bit of an eye-opener,” Bavuma, who was not yet captain at the time, said. “Playing against Australia, seeing how their batters went about their business, facing their bowlers, gave me an opportunity to have a look at my game, see where I can improve and hopefully try to emulate the performances that those batters were putting up at that point in time.”

Then, South Africa cricket was at one of its lowest ebbs, without a full-time coach (Mark Boucher had resigned and Malibongwe Maketa was filling in) and no real plan for how they wanted to shape up. In the immediate aftermath of that series, a new management structure was put in place. Shukri Conrad was appointed Test coach “at the right time”, as Bavuma put it. “He came in and encouraged guys to be themselves and to play their best cricket.”

Conrad has driven that narrative no matter what it looks like or what anyone else has said. He is tired of talking about the so-called nobodies South Africa beat along the way, the fact that their batting doesn’t have a generational great like Steven Smith in it, or that they have a reputation of being chokers. Conrad has instilled a ‘get-it-done-and-have-some-fun’ culture and that is what Bavuma wants his team to do over the next five days.