Assuming South Africa bowl Australia out soon in the morning session, it will leave the Proteas somewhere in the region of 250 runs to win the World Test Championship final at Lord’s on Friday, and yet the odds will be heavily stacked against Temba Bavuma’s troops.
There’s no disputing that the bowlers have dominated the first two days of action in London, and it’s not completely down to the conditions.
Since there have only been two sessions of the six so far in this Test, which has yielded less than four wickets, it’s clear to see that the batsmen have simply not been able to hold their own.
Kagiso Rabada (5/51) and Marco Jansen (3/49) starred in the first innings for SA as Australia collapsed from 192/5 to 212 all out.
Dominant Aussie Bowling Crushes SA Batting Lineup
It was then the Pat Cummins show as he ripped through the Proteas batting lineup with 6/28, with Mitchell Starc chipping in with 2/41. With David Bedingham top scoring with 45 and Temba Bavuma the next best with 36, SA could only manage 138 in response.
The core of the SA batting looked hopeless as opener Aiden Markram was out for a duck, Tristan Stubbs made 2, and Wiaan Mulder, in an experimental number three position, looked out of his depth, scratched around for 44 deliveries before his knock of 6 was put out of its misery.
It meant a crucial 76-run lead for the Aussies in the first innings, and though they will resume on 144/8, they already have a lead of 218.
Even if South Africa bowl Australia out quickly, it’s difficult to see how they can score over 200 runs as their batting lineup, barring Bedingham and Bavuma, looked out of their depth in the first innings.
Australia’s have a fragile batting lineup, like South Africa, which is their weakness. Unfortunately, it seems that the SA batting lineup is worse and they will have to bat uncharacteristically well if they were to be crowned WTC champions on Friday.
@Michael_Sherman
Sport
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