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Drinks on the first morning at Lord's as Lungi Ngidi and Wiaan Mulder settle into their first spells. At 29 for 2, it's been South Africa's hour. One of those wickets was Usman Khawaja ... here's Andrew McGlashan's take on Australia's senior opener...
Much of the focus leading into this Test was on who would partner Usman Khawaja, but the first morning at Lord’s has posed some familiar questions for Khawaja himself.
He fell for a 20-ball, edging Kagiso Rabada from around the wicket. It’s an angle of attack that has troubled him significantly: since the start of 2024 he is averaging 18.63 and been dismissed 11 times by quicks coming around to him, compared to 43.80 for five dismissals against the line over the wicket.
He’s faced some very good bowlers in that period, but there’s a clear pattern. It was only two Tests ago that he scored a career-best 232 in Sri Lanka, but those came in conditions that didn’t challenge him the same way. He still needs to do some convincing that, against quality quick bowling, his best years aren’t behind him.
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First up, it's a super take from David Bedingham at first slip - not clean, mind you, but then he did have to contend with Aiden Markram diving into his eyeline at second as he clung on high on his chest. Usman Khawaja is the man to go, via that round-the-wicket line from Rabada that Stuart Broad was doubtless expounding during his day as a bowling consultant this week... no doubt, he'll be credited for it in some capacity before the day is out!
"I'm a neutral now, just enjoying the cricket, but with a bit of a smile on my face," says Broad on the host broadcast ...
In comes Cameron Green, fresh from three centuries for Gloucestershire in Division Two of the County Championship ... and his first runs are about as easy as he's been handed all summer, as Rabada loses his line and hands him a freebie four, clipped off the pads. But two balls later, he's back on his mark from over the wicket, finding the low edge at a full, fast pace... and this time it's Markram clinging on despite distraction from Mulder at third slip, whose left arm spears into the frame just as the ball fizzes by! South Africa are clearly on it like a bonnet this morning. Alert, to the point of being almost too alert! But at 16 for 2, the toss gamble is already being justified.
One over later, it's inches from being 18 for 3, as Labuschagne jabs off his hip, and inches short of leg gully, a position in which he was extracted in the Sheffield Shield final. He's done a lot of work on that line of attack... as indeed have South Africa, it would appear...
It's close, it's gloomy. It's a trial by pace for Australia's openers as Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen hammer their lengths from the outset, with a bit of each-way nibble and good carry to the keeper. Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne are under the cosh, with Labuschagne presented with three slips, a gully and a short leg as he faces up to Jansen. The first runs don't arrive until the 22nd delivery, and they are via an inside-edge down past the leg-stump ... although it retrospectively transpires that the 21st was a front-foot no-ball, which causes a lengthy delay while the various parties work out the implications. South Africa need a wicket to justify bowling first, but they are doing their utmost to deliver it.The teams march out through a sea of sparklers, to stand in front of two vast flags and the ICC's Cricket4Good banner, and there's a flash of green and gold fireworks ahead of the anthems (conveniently, a single job-lot of pyrotechnics covers both teams). And as the anthems finish, the ground disappears in a further fusillade of fireworks and smoke. This is happening, folks!
Meanwhile, Nagraj Gollapudi has got his crayons out, and is getting very colourful about the pitch that's been prepared for this contest:
"A bright, creamish carpet tinged with faint green – the Lord's pitch is like a strip of band aid in the middle of a verdant green. But don’t let that fool you into thinking it could be flat. The groundsman Karl McDermott has been busy using the heavy roller in the week leading into the final. As a consequence, the grass has been padded in but the the surface is likely to be hard and provide good bounce across the five days."
won the toss and chose to bowl•Getty Images
A big cheer goes out from the South Africans in the stands as heads is the call from Temba Bavuma, and down it comes...
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>"The overhead conditions dictate that we bowl first," says Bavuma. "We've selected the best team for these conditions. It's a massive occasion, we all have some sort of allegiance to Lord's and we can hear the South African accents in the stands."
Pat Cummins is happy to bat first. "A few clouds but quite dry. Preparation has been unreal, all 15 guys pushing for selection. Everyone has come together for ten days' preparation. No extra pressure, we've won it before, go out and enjoy it."
So, it's the best-case scenario for South Africa, you sense. A chance to unleash their strongest suit, their bowling attack led by Kagiso Rabada and the lanky Marco Jansen, against an Australia batting line-up that includes Marnus Labuschagne in an unfamiliar role at the top of the order. Big first hour coming up. But when is it not?
Here's what Andrew McGlashan makes of it all ...
With Temba Bavuma asking Australia to bat it provides an early test for the reshuffled top three on an overcast day at Lord’s. Marnus Labuschagne will be in there straightaway with his Test career on the line, having been moved up to become Usman Khawaja’s fifth partner in 12 Tests.
For Labuschagne, this potentially defining moment comes at the ground where his career hit lift-off in 2019 when he was parachuted in as Steven Smith's concussion sub and, for three years, didn’t look back.
However, this WTC cycle has been tough with an average of 28.33 since the start of 2023 Ashes and just one century. The big question is: what would be a pass mark for Labuschagne in his new role?
Meanwhile, Cameron Green will have his pads on as he prepares to resume his Test career at No. 3. This could be a little different than Division Two life with Gloucestershire. The pitch itself didn’t scream bowl first, but Bavuma has looked up. He said yesterday that Australia’s top order was something his team could exploit and his star quicks – Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen – will have first crack.
Australia: 1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Marnus Labuschagne, 3 Cameron Green, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Travis Head, 6 Beau Webster, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh Hazlewood
South Africa: 1 Aiden Markram, 2 Ryan Rickleton, 3 Wiaan Mulder, 4 Temba Bavuma (capt), 5 Tristan Stubbs, 6 David Bedingham, 7 Kyle Verreynne, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Lungi Ngidi
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