Cricket greats dumbfounded by crazy WTC final as batting nightmare continues on day two at Lord’s

Cricket greats and fans alike have been left scratching their heads after another day of absolute carnage at Lord’s left batsmen in tears.

Another 14 wickets fell on a chaotic day at Lord’s on day two, leaving cricket greats ‘flummoxed’ at the wild scenes unfolding in the World Test Championship final.

The final is currently on a knife’s edge at stumps after Australia collapsed to 8/144 in its second innings to lead by 218 runs – after earlier knocking South Africa over for a measly 138.

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Champion bowlers Pat Cummins and Kagiso Rabada are having a field day at Lord’s, with the ball, appearing to have extra nip and bounce on the iconic pitch.

But for the batters, it has been a game to forget, with no player managing a half-century on day two.

And Australian cricket legend Matthew Hayden revealed it’s taking a toll on them.

“There are a few players crying in the dressing room, especially the batters,” Hayden said.

“Us poor old fellas with the bat have had a tough old time of it.”

Former New Zealand wicketkeeper Ian Smith couldn’t believe what he was witnessing.

“It is just bamboozling. Everyone who walks down those stairs to play an innings … cannot do it. They are just getting bamboozled. Techniques go out the window. It is just staggering,” Smith said.

“Everyone is just a bit flummoxed by what they are witnessing.”

The batsmen again struggled on day two. Image: Getty

After day one many pointed to the pitch as being subpar, with even Steve Smith commenting that it was very tricky to bat on.

“It felt quite tricky. It was doing something all day,” Smith said at the end of day one.

“A little two-paced, a little on the slower side and then one would kind of zing through.

“It offered all day even with the older ball, it felt like it got softer but still offered something.”

But former England captain Nasser Hussein said the talk about the pitch being so lively is wide of the mark.

“All of us are wracking our brains to figure out why and how this has happened,” he said.

“The statistics are showing it has not swung or seamed as much as it usually does. The sun has shone at times … so you would expect it to be a beautiful batting day.

“We have seen great fast bowling. As much as we talk about batting techniques or surfaces, these are great bowlers.”

Both sides failed to make runs at Lord’s on day two. (Photo by Matthew Lewis-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)

South Africa’s David Bedingham also believed the lack of runs had more to do with the bowlers nailing the conditions than the pitch itself.

“I think with the slope, I think the bowlers have had the ability to take it, obviously with the slope, which means the ball will move more, and then they also have the ability to take it away with the slope,” Bedingham said after day two.

“So I think just having world-class bowlers with a pitch that can move both ways, I think, makes it quite tricky to bat on.”

According to CricViz – the leading data and analytics provider in cricket – the seamers had just been incredibly accurate, with the bowlers in the final hitting a ‘good length’ more than three out of every four balls, the third highest percentage in the UK since 2006 when the data began being properly recorded.

And Head of Insight at CricViz Ben Jones said all indications pointed to the pitch being actually less lively than usual, stating the lack of runs was largely down to “extremely average batting” rather than the conditions themselves.

“Pre-empting any chat here: all the tracking data for this Test is normal, in some areas less movement than is typical for Lord’s,” he wrote on X.

“We’ve seen some very consistent, accurate bowling and some *extremely* average batting under pressure.”

However, irrespective of the conditions or not those with tickets for day four will be looking to make alternate plans, while those hoping to be at Lord’s on the final day, appear all out of luck.

Day three of the WTC will begin at Lord’s at 7.30pm (AEST).

Originally published as Cricket greats dumbfounded by crazy WTC final as batting nightmare continues on day two at Lord’s