Ricky Ponting was full of praise for Kagiso Rabada after his five-wicket haul on the first day of the ICC World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord’s. Rabada not only got his name on the Lord’s Honours Board but also went past Allan Donald’s record for most Test wickets for South Africa.
Ponting was impressed with Rabada’s performance especially since he had a similar outing last time he was at Lord’s for a Test against England in 2022. He drew a parallel between Rabada’s success and his former teammate Glenn McGrath who was great at Lord’s. Glenn McGrath loved bowling on the slope from either end which doesn’t get talked about enough, Ponting said.
Big games are about standout performances from star players. Rabada has 18 wickets in three Tests at Lord’s, averaging 16.83 with two five-wicket hauls – the most for a South African. McGrath had 26 wickets at 11.50 and a best of 8/38.
Talking about Rabada’s recent struggles off the field, Ponting said, After going through some tough times I’m sure he wanted to turn up for his team and lead from the front. That’s what good leaders do.
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While Ponting felt the Australian batters were disappointed with their day, he had some advice for the rest of the game. The Aussie batters will get the best batting conditions in their second innings so they should make the most of that, he added.
Australia struggled after being put in to bat first and were 67/4 at the end of the first session. A partnership between Steve Smith (66 off 112) and Beau Webster (72 off 92) got them to 200 but Kagiso Rabada (5/51) and Marco Jansen (3/49) kept the pressure on and got them to 212.
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South Africa had a tough start too, losing four wickets for 43 by the end of the day with none of their batters scoring more than 20. Mitchell Starc took two wickets while Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood got one each. South Africa are 169 behind.
