Australia's Marnus Labuschagne gamble backfires as Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen trigger disastrous WTC final start

Australia's Marnus Labuschagne gamble backfires as Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen trigger disastrous WTC final start

Australia's Marnus Labuschagne gamble backfires as Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen trigger disastrous WTC final start ByHT Sports Desk Jun 11, 2025 06:27 PM IST Share Via Copy Link South Africa bowlers left Australia reeling at the end of the opening session of the WTC final in London.

It was a good toss to win under the gloomy London skies, with Temba Bavuma putting Australia to bat first, and the South Africa bowlers and the fielders vindicated his call right in the opening session of the World Test Championship final at the Lord's as the defending champions were sent four down for just 67 runs.

South Africa's Marco Jansen (2R) celebrates with Tristan Stubbs after taking the wicket of Australia's Marnus Labuschagne (unseen) for 17 runs(AFP)

Kagiso Rabada, returning from a one-month ban after a drugs test earlier this year caught him using cocaine, got the early breakthrough as he removed Usman Khawaja for a 20-ball duck, after repeatedly testing the outside edge with his angled deliveries. He eventually nicked the rising ball to David Bedingham at slip.

Cameron Green, returning to the test side after back surgery, was dismissed just three deliveries later. He got off the mark with a boundary, a delivery later, he edged Rabada to second slip, where Aiden Markram took a brilliant low catch despite Wiaan Mulder driving across him. The right-armer conceded just nine runs in his menacing six-over spell in the morning session.

After the Rabada show, it was Marco Jansen who took over. Australia took a bait on Marnus Labuschagne and promoted him to the order as the cost of specialist opener Sam Konstas, but the batter. He made a patient start to his debut innings as an opener, scoring 17 off 56 balls, before edging Jansen's full delivery outside the wicket behind to wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne.

The wicketkeeper eventually brought an end to the first session in London, where the floodlights were on throughout as the cloud failed to clear, with a superb diving catch towards his right to complete the dismissal of Travis Head for 11. Steve Smith unbeaten on 26.

For South Africa, the fuller-length deliveries brought them more rewards, picking three wickets in 31 such balls for 46 runs. Nineteen of the remaining deliveries were on length, off which they snared one wicket, that of Khawaja.

The first sessions have usually been the toughest for batters at the iconic Lord's. In the last seven Tests since 2022, 16 wickets have fallen in the first 15 overs of the game at an average of just 18.18. The batting team lost at least two wickets during this phase in six of those matches. The only exception was Australia in the 2023 Ashes, when the opening pair of Khawaja and David Warner added 73 runs off 23.1 overs.