London, June 12(HS): The first day of the World Test Championship (WTC) final was dominated by bowlers. In this high-voltage match being played at The Oval in London, a total of 14 wickets fell, adding to the excitement of the contest. Batting first, the Australian team was restricted to 212 runs, to which South Africa managed to score 43 runs for the loss of 4 wickets by the end of the day. The African team is still trailing by 169 runs.Australia's shaky start, Smith-Webster steadied the inningsWinning the toss, South Africa opted to bowl and shook the Australian batting line-up led by Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen.

Key batsmen like Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, and Alex Carey could not perform well. Usman Khawaja couldn't even open his account. However, Steve Smith (66 runs) and Beau Webster (72 runs) fought hard to get the team past the 200-run mark. Wicketkeeper Alex Carey also contributed with 23 runs. Australia’s first innings ended at 212 runs.Australia lost their last 5 wickets for just 20 runs. Rabada picked up 5 wickets for South Africa, while Jansen took 3 wickets. Keshav Maharaj and Aiden Markram got one wicket each.

However, after a brilliant bowling performance, when South Africa started batting, the Australian bowlers tested them severely. Aiden Markram was dismissed for zero in the very first over. Subsequently, Ryan Rickelton (16), Vian Mulder (6), and Tristan Stubbs (2) were also out quickly. By the time stumps were called, captain Temba Bavuma was on 3 runs (37 balls) and David Beddingham had scored 8 runs.

For Australia, Mitchell Starc took 2 wickets, while Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins took 1 wicket each.A bowler-dominated first dayLooking at the first day's play, it is clear that the batsmen on both teams had to struggle against pace and swing deliveries. The pitch at The Oval has proven to be helpful for bowlers, and both teams will need to work hard to reach a strong score.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar