The decision paid off immediately, with the Proteas taking two early wickets in the first session of Day 1, although seasoned hitter Steven Smith stepped in to play at No. 4.
Australia batted first to kick off the World Test Championship Final 2025, after South Africa won the toss and chose to field at Lord’s in a thrilling match between the two red-ball superpowers.
The right-handed batter began to keep things stable from his end, but wickets fell at regular intervals, leaving the scorecard at 67 for 4 after 23.2 overs, when Travis Head was dismissed by Marco Jansen. The Sydney native, on the other hand, held down the fort and saved the Australians from disaster. However, his inning was cut short on the fourth delivery from Aiden Markram, a part-time off-spinner.
Markram got Smith to edge the ball to Jansen at first slip, and the hitter was clearly disappointed to have been out to a part-timer after batting for 112 deliveries and scoring a critical 66 runs. As the first day came to a close, the 35-year-old emerged at a news conference and delivered a cheeky retort that had everyone in stitches.
The journalist enquired: “Is there anything you learnt from your lesson today that you might do differently when you get a bat in the second innings?”
“Do not take the part-time off spinner (chuckles). [The ball was heading] Down the slope; I’m still trying to figure out how I did it. But, yes, don’t do it. Just play what’s in front of us and maybe take a few more spins as the game goes on. It’s quite dry. I’m not sure, but the seam might come down as the game progresses. So, like we saw on day one, I believe the bounce will vary throughout the game. So, perhaps, we can receive a few early ones in the morning and filter through them to gain a good lead. That’s the best option for us right now,” Smith responded amusingly.
Check the video of Steven Smith’s hilarious reply
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Following the dismissal of the New South Wales hitter, Australia received some late blows from the blade of Beau Webster, who top-scored for them with 72 runs off 92 balls. However, the lack of assistance from the tail-enders resulted in the reigning champions being bowled out for 212 in the first innings. Kagiso Rabada was the African team’s finest bowler, taking five wickets and breaking the back of Australia’s vaunted batting line-up.
Captain Bavuma seeks to get Proteas out of difficulty.
In response, South Africa had a disastrous start to their innings, losing four of their batsmen and scoring only 43 runs. Skipper Temba Bavuma (3*) and David Bedingham (8*) will resume the batting on Day 2, with the first-time finalists still trailing by 169 runs. Mitchell Starc (two wickets on Day 1), Josh Hazlewood (one wicket on Day 1), and captain Pat Cummins (one wicket on Day 1) will all be hoping for early breakthroughs in the vital second day’s morning session.
India
