This final has been called “The Ultimate Test” and though almost certainly the product of a W1A-style ideas splurge back in Dubai, the tagline scarcely felt more appropriate watching wickets tumble for a second day in succession.
It had appeared for all money that Pat Cummins had sealed the fate of the World Test Championship mace after lunch. Thundering in from the Nursery End, a four-wicket burst meant he finished with figures of six for 28 and South Africa were all out for 138 in 57.1 overs – 74 behind – all it needed was a further top-up of runs.
Instead, with assistance from a beige Lord’s surface that has delivered a bat’s width of nibble throughout, South Africa delivered a stirring fightback of their own. At stumps Australia were 144 for eight – a lead of 218 runs – and the spectators who had roared on the spectacle could finally draw breath.
Some of them were probably querying the pitch on the way out. But 28 wickets falling in just six sessions may say as much about how bowlers can adjust quicker to a one-off showpiece. After a rusty first day, Lungi Ngidi was the final one to get up to speed, his cheap lbw removals of Steve Smith and Beau Webster, amid figures of three for 35, dragging South Africa back into the contest.
Their heads could easily have dropped after the onslaught from Cummins in which he became the eighth Australian to 300 Test wickets. There could also have been a few envious glances cast by Kagiso Rabada, star of the first innings. As sublime as he was, Cummins had also profited from a collective asphyxiation that resulted in, among the frontline bowlers, only Mitchell Starc going at more than two runs per over.
But after Rabada once again made early inroads – Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green nicked off – the South African cavalry arrived. In the space of a dizzying first 25 overs Australia were suddenly 73 for seven. Marco Jansen ended Marnus Labuschagne’s second stab at opening, Ngidi found a rich groove and Wiaan Mulder wiped out the dangerous Travis Head, bowled neck and crop.
By the close the defending champions were grateful to Alex Carey for a nuggety 43 that added to his personal story at Lord’s and, along with support from Starc, meant the chase would require the highest total of the match. Had Jansen followed Rabada’s late removal of Carey lbw by holding Starc at slip, the metronomic Mulder would have claimed a deserved second wicket.
South Africa will be hoping the top order that crumbled to 30 for four on the first evening can hold firmer second time around. A bit like the World Cup semi-final in Kolkata 18 months ago, their first effort felt like a Chinese finger trap, every wriggle making things tighter. There was some defiance, Temba Bavuma and David Bedingham throwing the odd counterpunch, but the task was arduous.
Having shut down Bavuma for 36 via a loose shot to cover, Cummins simply came into his own after the interval; the blue-eyed boy from the Blue Mountains delivering an avalanche of wickets. Smashing the surface with remorseless accuracy, his spell of 4.1 overs, four for four – closed off with a stunning diving catch by Webster in the deep – appeared gamebreaking at the time.
It had begun with a scene straight from Super Rugby, Cummins appealing for an lbw against Kyle Verreynne and summarily flattened as his mark attempted a single. Cummins cared only for the review, however, and when three reds flashed up on the big screen, he was suddenly amid a scrum of jubilant teammates.
This was the first of five wickets to fall for just 12 runs – as well as the first of two in the over thanks to a return catch from Jansen – but most critical was that of Bedingham. Though typically a dasher for Durham, the right-hander had ground his way to 45 only to be undone on the back foot by a classic edge behind. Most heinous was Keshav Maharaj, run out after dithering over a second run.
But after holding the ball aloft – and a quickfire interview on the boundary’s edge – there was precious little time for Cummins to soak it all up in the dressing room. Australia’s captain was pressed into service 90 minutes later once Mulder breached Head’s crooked defence. The muscular Ngidi was up and about at the other end, however, and soon it was Cummins hearing the stumps rattle.
In the end it took Carey to quell the flames, the wicketkeeper hustling his way to the top score of the innings and a 61-run stand with Starc that could yet prove pivotal. The last time a Test match in England was won by a side making its highest total in the chase was Headingley 2019 and Australia will not want a repeat. Either way, the Ultimate Test is set to be a quick one.
