SA 43/4 (22.0 ov, Temba Bavuma 3*, David Bedingham 8*, Pat Cummins 1/14) – Stumps – Australia vs South Africa Final Match Live Score, Summary
6.05pm What a day – we have had 78.4 overs and 14 wickets, and some glorious batting in between courtesy Steve Smith and later Beau Webster. The WTC final has definitely lived up to all the hype on Day 1, but it will likely be Australia the happier side as they go back to their dressing rooms. They were bowled out for 212, courtesy Kagiso Rabada’s magnificent five-for, but their bowlers have removed four South African batters, without the scoreboard reaching 50. Starc struck twice, then Cummins and Hazlewood got one each. South Africa have looked stuck, and need to find a way to move on. Bavuma and Bedingham will have plenty to do tomorrow.
After Bavuma won the toss and opted to bowl, South Africa would have been overjoyed with the first session, getting four wickets. Then Smith and Webster added 79 runs and when Smith fell trying to attack Markram, Webster – who rode his luck early on – found his groove and moved the scoreboard along with Alex Carey. However, South Africa were quick to wrap Australia’s tail up after Carey missed a reverse sweep. But, then it was all about the famed Australian pace attack. South Africa have it all to do at Lord’s tomorrow. Be sure to join us! Until then, on behalf of Alex Malcolm, Thilak Ram and Venkat Raghav, it’s Abhimanyu signing off.
Beau Webster: “I had a bit of luck no doubt. Managed to get through that period and get through some of those spells and get a score on the board. [On the surface] I’ve played a bit of County cricket here and there but with Rabada and Jansen coming in it was quite tough. I just did some minor adjustments to my technique and it was tricky with the slope but we got a score on the board. We saw in the last session the ball is still moving around, Starcy had the ball on a string. It’s tricky for a batsman. Our bowling attack’s been so strong. We know if we don’t quite get it down with the bat, our bowlers will get it down. Outstanding effort from the boys.”
Cummins to Bedingham, FOUR, And Bedingham ends the day with back-to-back boundaries as Cummins hunts for one final wicket! Full on the pads and he clips it away in front of square. But the momentum is still, very much with Australia as it’s stumps at Lord’s!