WTC Final: Fifties by Steve Smith and Beau Webster help Australia reach 190/5

London, June 11 Steve Smith and Beau Webster helped Australia bounce back from an awful first session by hitting half-centuries each and helped the side reach 190/5 in 50 overs on Day One of the World Test Championship Final at the Lord’s Cricket Ground here on Wednesday.

As compared to being blown away in the first session by the pace of Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen, Smith and Webster rotated the strike with ease, scored plenty of boundaries while sharing a 79-run stand, and helped Australia to force their way back into the match.

While Smith made 66 off 112 balls, laced with ten boundaries, and established a new record for the most runs scored by a visiting batter in Tests at the iconic venue, Webster overcame early struggles to be unbeaten on 55 off 76 balls.

The start of the session saw Smith, batting with an outside the leg-stump stance and a trademark exaggerated back-and-across movement, steal three quick boundaries off Rabada and Jansen. But Webster was all at sea, struggling to survive in tough conditions. With luck on his side, Webster survived twice in as many overs.

On four, he was first beaten on the outside edge and trapped lbw by Marco Jansen, but ball tracking showed the umpire's call on impact. Then, against Rabada on eight, Webster was clearly lbw, but with South Africa fearing it was an inside edge, they didn’t take the review. To their dismay, replays showed the ball hitting stumps and that it would have been out if South Africa had taken the review.

Smith eventually got his fifty in 76 balls by slashing Rabada through backward point for four, before he and a now-settled Webster took boundaries off Lungi Ngidi and Keshav Maharaj.

But in a bid to smack Aiden Markram through covers, Smith could only get a healthy outside edge and was caught by first slip on his third attempt. Though Webster was living dangerously, he got his second Test fifty off 69 deliveries and ensured Australia had a bright second session after a gloomy first session.

Brief scores:

Australia 190/5 in 50 overs (Steve Smith 66, Beau Webster 55 not out; Kagiso Rabada 2-35, Marco Jansen 2-49) against South Africa

--IANS

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