LEEDS: England chose to bowl first against India in the test series opener at Headingley on Friday.
Both teams would have picked to field first. The last six test winners in Leeds bowled first.
The pitch has a green tinge and the weather is sunny and humid, the temperature topping out at 29 degrees on days one and two.
India, under new skipper Shubman Gill, has chosen to debut top-order batter Sai Sudharsan, give middle-order bat Karun Nair his first test in eight years. Shardul Thakur, who hasn’t played a test since December 2023, was preferred to Nitish Kumar Reddy as the fast bowling allrounder and Prasidh Krishna headed off uncapped Arshdeep Singh as the third seamer.
England named its team on Thursday, choosing at No. 3 in the batting order vice captain Ollie Pope over Jacob Bethell.
Lineups:
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Bryson Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Lokesh Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant, Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

In the first day’s play in the 2025 World Test Championship on June 11 at Lord’s, South Africa bowled Australia out for 212 in 56.4 overs. In the final session of the day, South Africa’s response stumbled badly, as the innings slumped to 43 for four against Australia’s relentless trio of quick bowlers. At that point, there was a feeling that this could be a mismatch.

It was not so much that South Africa lost early wickets, it was the lack of positivity in the approach. In a callow innings, Wiaan Mulder scored six runs in facing 44 deliveries, looking barely capable of putting bat on ball. The responsibilities of captaincy seemed to weigh heavily on Temba Bavuma, who scored three from 37 deliveries. Bowlers were in the ascendency throughout the day, high class shining though.

Kagiso Rabada had come into the match under a cloud, following a one-month ban for a positive testing for cocaine use. His response was to claim five wickets for 51 runs. These took his tally of Test wickets to 331, past Allan Donald on South Africa’s all-time list, cementing his reputation as one of cricket’s finest fast bowlers. Conditions were helpful to bowlers, cloud cover persuading Bavuma to ask Australia to bat. The decision was vindicated until that late flurry of lost wickets in South Africa’s response.

In addition, it must be said that Australia’s batters looked underprepared. The team had not played a Test match since February. Several of them had been playing in the Indian Premier League, but that has different demands to Test cricket. Admittedly, two batters had been acclimatizing by playing English county cricket but that has lower demands than the Test arena. On the other hand, South Africa’s squad had united to play warm-up matches in England.

Nevertheless, there was a feeling at Lord’s that the first session on Day 2 could prove fatal for South Africa. Despite middle order doggedness prior to lunch, South Africa’s last five wickets fell for only 12 runs in the face of an inspired spell by Australia’s captain, Pat Cummins, who claimed six wickets, the last of which was his 300th in Test cricket. Once again, the Test format displayed the capacity to ebb and flow, which can make it so compelling, prompting references to chess on grass. This match had strategic moves in abundance.

Australia held a lead of 74 runs in the first innings. In the second innings, its task was to bat South Africa out of the game. Towards the end of the second day that plan was in tatters, the response 73 for 7, a lead of 147. A partial recovery was effected, which took the score to 144 for 8 at the close of play, a lead of 217. On the basis of South Africa’s first innings performance this seemed to be enough for many observers. Conditions still favored the bowlers, while batters had displayed faulty techniques. Questions were raised about Australia’s selection policy and the possibility that the places of several in their batting line-ups were in jeopardy.

On Friday morning the sun shone and the characteristic Lord’s hum of chatter and anticipation was in full symphony. It was presented with a stoical last wicket partnership by Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood. Obvious to everyone were the existence of more favorable conditions for batting, the ball moving less in the air and off the pitch. The pair compiled a mature partnership of 59 from 135 balls.

Both knew that conditions had eased and that, as bowlers, they needed as many runs as possible to provide a cushion. They were taking the WTC seriously. Hazlewood’s annoyed swish of the bat when he was out on the stroke of lunch suggested that he felt that more runs were needed. If he and Starc, who scored 58 in a three-hour innings, found batting easy, so might the South Africans.

It was difficult to find many to agree with him. Common consent was that a target of 282 looked beyond South Africa, even allowing for the improved batting conditions.

A more positive intent was apparent in South Africa’s second innings, despite the loss of two wickets to Starc. Then Aidan Markham and Bavuma, carrying a hamstring injury, forged a partnership of 147. Markham has always been a striker of handsome cricket shots, but his Test career has been very stop-start. Gradually, the pair pushed South Africa towards an unexpected victory, grinding Australia down to end Day 3 on 213 for three, 69 runs short of victory.

On the fourth day those runs were eked out despite much obvious nervous tension and strangling tactics from Australia. Finally, a victory was achieved that was met by an outpouring of relief and ecstasy from South Africans and for South Africa, whose men’s team’s failures to win global tournaments when well set are well documented. The emotions and reflections of those directly associated with this win have been covered in another Arab News piece. Now that the dust has settled on the match and the South African team have returned home to a heroes’ welcome, a further reflection on what it means for Test cricket is required.

The TWC has not been a universally popular competition. South Africa is now its third different winner after New Zealand and Australia, who each beat India in the two previous finals respectively held in England in 2021 and 2023. England’s representatives have been scornful about losing points for slow over rates in the TWC.

India, no doubt, is more than a little disappointed not to have won the title. This time they have only themselves to blame for failing to reach the final, winning only one of their past eight Tests. The smaller Full Members, such as Zimbabwe, are disappointed not to be included at all.

There is an imbalance in terms of the number of Tests played, length of series and who plays whom. Nevertheless, despite its flaws, the WTC provides a competitive framework in which Test cricket is played. There has been talk of its reform, changing its cycle and even moving the final to India, evidenced by a formal request from the Board of Control for Cricket in India to do so. It is rumored that Jay Shah, chair of the ICC, will propose to the ICC Board that Lord’s should host the final of the next three cycles up to and including 2031.

This bastion of class and elitism, proclaimed “the home of cricket,” had to allow its treasured property to be overtaken by Australians and South Africans, but it provided a class environment. Ultimately, South Africa completely took over the ground as they partied joyously. Surely, it can be no bad thing for this to happen, the team and country assuaging past heartbreaks and providing new hope for South African cricket across all formats and all parts of its society.