Credit: ICC
The defending champions Australia didn’t get a great in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lords Cricket Ground. Coming to bat first after losing the toss, the Aussies lost five wickets under 150 runs on day one. Star pacer Kagiso Rabada struck early for the Proteas by taking wickets of Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green in a single over as Australia were reduced to 12/2 after the seven overs.
Usman Khawaja, who came to open the innings with Marnus Labuschagne, got out without scoring any run after facing 20 balls. With this, Khawaja registered an unwanted feat to his name in a big WTC final. Notably, the left–handed batsman made a record for registering the longest duck in the history of the World Test Championship final. Interestingly, the second place in this list also belongs to Khawaja as he registered a 10-ball duck in the previous WTC final against India at the Oval in 2023.
Steve Smith, Beau Webster score fifties after poor start on day one
Talking about the match, Australia were having a tough time on the field on day one as they were reduced to 67/4 in the first session. After that, Steve Smith and Beau Webster took charge of the innings and put up a partnership of 79 runs for the fifth wicket. Smith came up with his 42nd Test fifty and got out after scoring 66 runs off 112 balls hitting 10 boundaries.
On the other hand, Beau Webster, who is playing the fourth Test of his career went on to score his second fifty in the format for Australia. He took 69 balls to reach the milestone as Australia are recovering after early breakthroughs. Webster is currently batting with Alex Carey as Australia are at 190/5 by the end of second session on day one.
