South Africa skipper’s DRS blunder saves Beau Webster and turns Test on its head

Aussie Beau Webster couldn’t believe his luck after South Africa made a horrible blunder on Day 1 of the World Test Championship final.

At the end of day one of the World Test Championship (WTC) final, Australia are in the driver’s seat, however if South Africa had not made a costly blunder in the second session things could be looking vastly different.

South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada was on fire with the ball early on day one, dismissing both Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green in the same over before the Proteas attack continued to do damage, with Australia 4-67 at lunch.

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South Africa used two unsuccessful reviews on all-rounder Beau Webster and Steve Smith - which were both ruled as umpire’s call - in the first session.

But things could have been even worse after Webster, on 8 off 13 balls, missed a ball from Rabada that nipped back sharply and wasn’t reviewed.

“Rabada is all over Beau Webster like a rash,” Nasser Hussain said on Amazon Prime.

England great and South Africa bowling consultant Stuart Broad said: “Goodness me, does that not look pretty close?”

Beau Webster had more than his share of luck on Day 1. Image: Getty

To which Australian cricket great Matthew Hayden added: “You could mount a case there”.

Replays showed Webster completely missed the ball and DRS showed it would have been given out if it was reviewed.

“Three reds, Stuart Broad spot on,” Hussain said.

It was bizarre not to review considering they still had all three challenges remaining, due to the fact ‘umpires call’ does not constitute a loss of a review.

Later, at 4-129, another lbw review came with Webster on 23 but the replay showed Webster middled the delivery.

“The reviews have not been the best part of their play today,” Ian Smith said in commentary.

Webster was eventually dismissed for 72 by Rabada but the decision to not review a clear lbw proved costly.

The review blunders amused Smith, who post-match said “it looked pretty good to me”.

“It looked pretty good to me. I don’t even know what happened there,” Smith chuckled.

“I don’t even think it hit his pad, it looked like it hit his leg. Someone said they saw Rabada suggest he might have hit it but didn’t look like it from my view.

“I’m surprised they didn’t appeal more. Where I was I was like geez that looks pretty good. They had the chance to use the referral but didn’t.”

Australia were all out for 212, with Webster (72) and Smith (66) the only pair to make any sort of runs.

In response, South Africa slumped to 4/43, a deficit of 169 runs, as Mitchell Starc finished the day with figures of 2/10 in seven overs.

Originally published as South Africa skipper’s DRS blunder saves Beau Webster and turns Test on its head