Australia are in the driving seat after day one of the World Test Championship final as the seam bowlers run riot at Lord's.
WTC Final, AUS Vs SA: Australia Top Day 1 As Seamers Run The Show At Lord's - Data Debrief
Steve Smith (66) and Beau Webster (72) managed to guide Australia to a score of 212, and that was enough for their bowlers to work with
The reigning WTC champions lead by 169 runs, with South Africa ending the day 43-4.
South Africa won the toss and captain Temba Bavuma opted to bowl first. Kagiso Rabada made an early impact as he removed Usman Khawaja for a duck and Cameron Green (four) in the same over.
Australia were four down by lunch as Marco Jansen also took two wickets before the break, dismissing Marnus Labuschagne (17) and Travis Head (11).
The two seamers carried on their onslaught into the next session, rattling through the Australia lower order. Rabada finished with figures of 5-51 and Jansen with 3-49.
Steve Smith (66) and Beau Webster (72) managed to guide Australia to a score of 212, and that was enough for their bowlers to work with.
Mitchell Starc bowled Aiden Markram (0)Â out in the first over before finding the outside edge of Ryan Rickelton (16) soon after.
Captain Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood then sent Wiaan Mulder and Tristan Stubbs back to the dressing room, respectively, in the final session of the day.
Data Debrief: Swing is king
Of the 14 wickets taken on day one of this test match, 12 of them came from seam bowlers.
Rabada, who took five of those wickets, collected his 17th five-wicket haul in his Test career.
However, the experience of the Australian bowling attack was on show once again as Starc, Cummins, and Hazlewood all got in on the action to tee up an interesting second day.
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