Alex Carey’s batting and Pat Cummins’ bowling save Australia from capitulation in World Test Championship final
More wickets tumbled as the World Test Championship final looks headed for a possible day-three finish, with only two Aussies managing to swim against the tide.
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It must have been the best steak and milkshake in London.
South African seamer Lungi Ngidi challenged Australia’s pursuit of a second World Test Championship title with a commanding spell after tea on day two.
Ngidi was poor on day one, prompting spearhead Kagiso Rabada to offer an unusual remedy after play when asked how he could get his teammate back on track.
“I will tell him to have a good night’s sleep, have a nice steak and a nice milkshake, watch a movie and come back tomorrow,” Rabada said with a laugh.
Whatever Ngidi did on Wednesday night worked, as he took three crucial wickets to support Rabada’s early strikes.
The Aussies were 0-28, effectively 0-102 with a 74-run first innings lead, before Rabada took two quick wickets.
Ngidi then supported his partner by dismissing first innings run-scorers Beau Webster and Steve Smith, as well as the typically stubborn Pat Cummins.
The 3-35 off nine overs from Ngidi forced Australia to fight back from 7-73 late in the final session.
CLUTCH CAREY
Alex Carey dug Australia out of the deepest of holes.
Striding to the crease at 5-64, and watching two more Aussies fall for just nine runs, Carey struck a gritty and intelligent 43 from 50 balls.
The left-hander took Australia’s lead from gettable to defendable with a game-changing 61-run partnership with Mitchell Starc.
He was given out LBW on 17 but confidently overturned the decision after it caught a faint inside edge.
GET BEHIND THE LINE
If South Africa is to lose on day three – its controllable errors would have had a massive say.
The Proteas have willingly boosted Australia in both low-scoring innings through a heavy tally of no balls.
South Africa bowled 10 in the first innings and has leaked a further nine in the second.
The Proteas have nailed the fundamentals with the ball at Lord’s – but it could be one of the game’s basic skills which plays a role in their demise.
A FINAL OVER DAGGER
South Africa was oh so close to going into the third day with just one Australian wicket to collect.
Marco Jansen grassed a sharp catch off the bat of Mitchell Starc in the final over of the day.
The Proteas’ slip cordon moved within 11m of the bat after snicks fell agonisingly short throughout the third innings.
But when Starc slashed at a wide delivery from Wiaan Mulder, this one seemingly flew too quickly to Jansen.
Jansen had been battling a thumb injury after wedging into the ground earlier in the day but it was a catch which needed to be taken.
CAPTAIN CUMMINS
It took just 17 balls for Australian captain Pat Cummins to divert the direction of the World Test Championship final.
South Africa had counterattacked from its precarious overnight position of 4-43 to go into the lunch break 5-121.
But Cummins landed a series of blows to the Proteas’ jaw with 4-1 in the space of 17 balls.
He took the first two completely on his own, shrewdly reviewing a turned down LBW decision before safely taking a return catch.
Cummins’ third wicket – perhaps the best delivery of the lot – was his fifth and put him joint second for the most five-wicket hauls as a captain.
The South Africans quickly went 5-126 to 10-138 courtesy of 6-28 from captain Cummins.
Cummins joined seven other Aussie greats with 300 or more Test wickets with his sixth and final scalp.
KG GOES BANG, BANG … AGAIN
There was a sense of deja vu on day two.
Just like he did in the first innings, South African star Kagiso Rabada claimed the wickets of Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green in quick succession.
It took Rabada three balls to dismiss the pair on day two – bettering the four-ball effort in the first innings.
Green looked to move down the wicket to both of his deliveries but fell in the same fashion as he did the previous day.
Originally published as Alex Carey’s batting and Pat Cummins’ bowling save Australia from capitulation in World Test Championship final
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