Rabada shines in 'Home' Test

But Starc removes gloss from Proteas day...

The gloss may have been Starc’ed off what could have been a glittering day for South Africa but the World Test Championship final still has plenty of life left in it and there will be opportunities on day two for the underdogs to fight their way back into the contest from 43-4 having bowled the champions out for a modest 212.

It doesn’t change the fact that Kagiso Rabada lived up to every inch of expectation with a glorious 5-51 to heap the early pressure on Australia:

“It’s a huge occasion and a very special place to play – there is so much South African support it actually feels like a home game. All the bowlers started well and put some pressure on them but scoring was difficult against the new ball. I was just the lucky one to get the rewards today,” Rabada said.

The great fast bowler moved from 327 Test wickets to 332 passing Allan Donald’s total of 330 to move into fourth place on the all-time behind Mkhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock and Dale Steyn.

“Those things are all secondary to winning games for the team, that’s what matters most. But I’m honoured to pass AD, what a legend of a cricketer.”

“If we can just score some runs now then it will have been a very good day for the team…” Rabada said between innings, tempting fate, perhaps.

South Africa’s top order struggled in helpful seam bowling conditions but had neither the skill nor courage to press for runs. “You’ve got to find a way to score, not boundaries necessarily but just the ability to pick up a single. You can’t just stand there and defend,” said a frustrated Graeme Smith in the commentary box.

Wiaan Mulder is not a number three – he’s occupying that slot because it was the only way to get him into the XI so the team could benefit from his swing bowling. But six often painful runs from 44 balls was true reflection of the reality. Temba Bavuma required 31 balls to score his first run. As Smith said, you have to ‘find a way’ to win any Test match, but especially one as big as this – against one of the best bowling attacks ever seen in Test cricket history.

*If you’ve been fortunate enough to watch the television coverage of the WTC final you may have wondered whether there are even more camera angles and innovations than ever before. There are – which is no surprise because it the largest and most expensive ICC production of all time.

A World Cup match generally has a production team of around 100 people from cameramen, VT editors, sound operators, producers and commentators etc. There are normally between 42 and 44 cameras used, up from an average of around 32 for regular bilateral series.

The World Test Championship final has a crew of approximately 180 with a record 54 cameras in operation. Every player on the field of play has a camera trained on him for every second of play – hence the footage of Temba Bavuma lurching from triumph to despair and back again as Marco Jansen juggled the catch at slip to remove Steve Smith.

Rabada's second entry on the Lord’s Honours Board is an even rarer feat than you might imagine. His entry is just the fifth to feature an asterisk to indicate that it was achieved during a ‘neutral’ Test match.

The first such event was Australia against South Africa at HQ in 1912 when England hosted the only other two Test playing nations for a Triangular series in what can be regarded as the first ‘Test World Championship’ – back in 1912. Warren Bardsley and Charles Kelleway were the first names to be inscribed for the centuries they scored for Australia in that Test.

It was 98-years-later that the second neutral Test was played here - Australia against Pakistan in 2010 – when Shane Watson and Marcus North both claimed five-wicket hauls in another Australian win. The WTC final is just the third neutral Test and Rabada’s 5-51 just the fifth *name on the Board. His name is, of course, also on the ‘Away Team’ Honours Board with the 5-52 he claimed against England in 2022.

Only one man has his name on both the ‘Home’ and ‘Away’ team Boards. Gordon Greenidge scored a century for the West Indies against England and also for the MCC against the Rest of the World in 1987.