Talking Points, Australia vs South Africa scorecard, video, highlights, Steve Smith injury

South Africa’s big championship hoodoo is over, Australia has surrendered its hold on the World Test Championship and the Proteas fans are celebrating in the stands at Lord’s.

A gripping WTC Final at the home of cricket, complete with twists and turns in conditions that made life tricky for batting for all bar Day 3, ended with South Africa triumphant by five wickets on Saturday in London.

Chasing 69 runs for a massive breakthrough with eight wickets in hand, it was not the easiest progression to victory. The Australians strived mightily on Day 4 to spark a collapse, but ultimately Aiden Markram’s proved the match winner with a tremendous knock.

It was a superb performance from Markram in a bowler-dominated Test, with South Africa pulling off the second biggest fourth innings run chase at Lord’s to secure their first ICC trophy since 1988. This is by far their biggest success.

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The Australians will ponder what might have been had Steve Smith secured Temba Bavuma when he was on two. Given how swiftly it was moving, and how close the champion was standing, in hindsight it was a near impossible chance. But it proved a game changer.

Cricket, as always, moves fast. The next WTC cycle begins later this month and Australia is off to the West Indies for a three Test tour before setting their sights on the Ashes. Bring it on.

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THE OVER-RELIANCE ON A CHAMPION

Australia’s assistant coach Daniel Vettori highlighted a significant vulnerability in the beaten finalists that is evident to anyone who has watched the Aussies over the past couple of seasons.

Australia still relies far too much on Steve Smith to deliver, with the New Zealander stating once the No.4 fell for 13 when trapped LBW by Lungi Ngidi in the second innings, the Aussies were going to struggle. If not for the tail wagging, the final would have finished on Friday.

Although Travis Head failed at Lord’s, the Australians endured strong contributions throughout the most recent cycle from the Nos 5, 6 and 7.

Alex Carey struggled for a period after the infamous Lord’s Test a couple of years ago before cementing his position, Mitch Marsh was on fire before dipping in form and has been replaced by Beau Webster, while Head has been a matchwinner. And the tail has wagged and wagged and wagged, with it a rare moment when at least one of the bottom four has not held up an end or added a decent contribution.

All of this sharpens the spotlight on the top three, which will not surprise anyone who has watched Australian cricket for a couple of years. What happens over the next WTC will be fascinating, particularly as the Aussies awesome attack is not getting any younger.

Life at the top … of the order is clearly harder than ever before, as captain Pat Cummins said on the eve of the WTC Final.

But the trio of Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green less runs and faced fewer balls combined in two innings than Australia’s No.9 Mitchell Starc did with his bold bid with the blade in his second knock. And that cannot be tolerated.

Cummins said there were a few areas in the final where Australia did not get it right, but finished off his answer with the obvious pointer.

“We always knew this is going to be a one off (because) it’s pretty specific conditions over here,” Cummins said.

“Losing the toss on day one and being sent into bat, it was never going to be easy for the top three. I think there’s probably quite a few people in the lineup that kind of wish they could have done a little bit more. And, obviously, the top three was an obvious one in this game.”

Labuschagne is the man under the most pressure. He actually looked in reasonable touch in the infancy of both innings at Lord’s when promoted to open and contributed the third highest score in the second innings and fourth biggest in the first.

But that contribution was 39 of Australia’s 419 runs, or less than 10 per cent of the total. Given Smith’s advancing age, the Australians need a player of Labuschagne’s age (he is 30) to stand up, but the Queenslander has received chance on chance to regain peak form.

Khawaja, who made a 20 ball duck in the first innings and scored just six runs in the final, will be a month shy of turning 39 when the Ashes begins in Perth on November 22.

He filled up in Sri Lanka with a fine 232 in the first Test in Galle in February. But it will be two years on Monday since his previous Test century in Birmingham against England and he has passed 50 only six times in 38 innings since that knock at Edgbaston.

Khawaja has seen openers come and go since his great mate David Warner’s retirement 18 months ago. There will be a watch on the left-hander throughout the tour of the West Indies, but Cummins says he believes the veteran is still capable of producing for his country.

“I think the beauty of someone like Davey or Uzzie going through a little bit of a lean patch late in their career (is that) you know they’ve got out of it before,” Cummins said.

“They’ve got a good record of dragging themselves out (of it) and finding their best. But like anyone else, you have got to be scoring runs. “You have got to be taking wickets. We’ll wait and see.

“Uzzie would obviously would like a few more runs. Again, going into that Sri Lanka series, his name was kind of thrown up there publicly and he scored a double hundred and showed how good he is, so I’m sure runs are not too far away.”

The WTC decider scarcely proved a glorious moment for Green, but the Western Australian will look to regain the form that saw him flourish when promoted to No.4 during the period Smith was opening.

The form of Webster provides Australian selectors with food for thought, for having two all-rounders in a team seems both a luxury but also a cause for concern given one spot could be filled by a specialist batter.

With Sam Konstas and Josh Inglis waiting in the wings, it seems certain there will be changes to the Australian batting order for the first Test in the West Indies, regardless of Smith’s availability. Should the decks spin in the Caribbean, Head may even be promoted again.

But how many of the current top order survive to the Ashes will be fascinating given Cummins has acknowledged a reset is in order.

WILL SMITH BE AVAILABLE FOR THE CARIBBEAN?

The Australians lost out significantly in the match with what The Guardian’s Andy Bull dubbed a game of chicken by having Smith stand as close as he did at first slip on Friday.

There was a reason for the bold gamble, for edges were not flying through to the slips cordon from the fifth session onwards on a strange deck at Lord’s which, while a nightmare when covered by clouds, was benign with a tendency to be slow when the sun was shining.

But there is always the prospect of a rogue delivery and Mitchell Starc’s ability to screw something extra out of the pitch, which drew Bavuma into a false shot, ended up screwing Smith as well given his pinky finger was mangled when spilling the sharpest of chances.

Had Smith snared the catch, South Africa would have been 3 for 70-odd and Markram would have been forced to make hay with less experienced batters than the brave Bavuma, who ultimately fell for 66 on Saturday morning to leave South Africa 65 runs shy of success.

There is no use crying over spilt catches and Australia will immediately refocus on the tour of the Caribbean. When the 36-year-old was hospitalised on Friday night, there were fears he could miss the entire tour. But there was better news on the front on Saturday.

Cummins said it is unlikely that the Aussie champion will be fit for the first Test which begins in Barbados on June 25. As a result, further personnel may be called on from Australia as back-up depth in case there is an injury to another batter.

But the Aussies are hopeful he will be available for at least part of the series and he will travel with the squad.

“I think it’s a little bit of a wait and see (situation),” Cummins said.

“He’s good. He, I think, enjoyed the green whistle for an hour yesterday, but he’s positive. (It will be) somewhere around the 10 days to two weeks and then, maybe, (he will) try and bat with a split and see how that looks.

“I’d say the first Test may be unlikely, and then (we will) kind of go from there, but it’s bit early.”

MARKRAM’S DEFINING MOMENT SHOULD BE A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR THE AUSSIES

Aiden Markram deserved better than to lose his wicket just shy of South Africa’s stunning success in the defining moment of his career.

Having batted so magnificently to reach 136, he was snared in the dying stages when caught by Travis Head while flicking Josh Hazlewood to the leg side.

But everyone at Lord’s appreciated his contribution, with several of the Australian players running to shake his hand and congratulate him as he walked somewhat disappointedly from the Lord’s ground. It was an outstanding knock. And it fulfils his promise.

Prior to Temba Bavuma getting his hands on the WTC mace on Saturday, Markram was the only South African captain to hold aloft a World Cup trophy when leading a team that featured superstar Kagiso Rabada to glory in the under-19 World Cup in 2014.

When previewing the Test, ESPN noted he made two centuries in his first three Tests to identify himself as a batter of the future for his nation, only to find himself out of the Test team on a couple of occasions, including on South Africa’s most recent tour of Australia.

Under coach Shukri Conrad, Markram was given another opportunity to shine and he snared a century on his return. He has since added a couple more, including a remarkable effort in a losing team. But none have been better than this moment.

Markram is an example of a player who has flourished after a period where his ability was questioned. It demonstrates good things can come even if a player is dropped and returns to the domestic scene.

Should this happen to Labuschagne, for example, or for a player like Nathan McSweeney, it does not mean an end to their international career.

WHAT DOES SOUTH AFRICA’S SUCCESS MEAN FOR THE PROTEAS AND WORLD CRICKET?

Will this triumph be the shot in the arm South African cricket needs to become a true power in cricket?

Markram said he hoped the deeds of the Proteas to reach the final would inspire younger crickets to prioritise the glory of red ball cricket over the lucrative lure of fast food cricket and the T20 leagues populating the globe.

“It’s always been my most important and most favourite format. Naturally, playing fewer games is not really on us. It’s just sort of the cards that we get dealt,” he said.

“But it’s really important, in my opinion, to keep Test cricket as the number one in South Africa. We understand all the dynamics that are happening in the cricket world … but it’s more about the young guy coming through, that his main thing is to get a Test match baggy and play Test match cricket for South Africa.

“(It) is a different conversation in the world of cricket nowadays, but the number one priority should always be to play Test cricket. And I’ve always felt that, believed that, and if you can get that back with the younger people coming through, I think we’ve done well.”

It is farcical that South Africa, as the World Test Champions, will not play a Test at home next summer.

What would help is cutting the South Africans, and other less-financial nations for that matter, in on longer and more rewarding tours against the powerhouses India, England and Australia. Hopefully the triumph silences discussion of a two-tier Test format.

There have been three World Test Championship cycles. Australia is the only power to win the mace. The “so-called second tier countries”, to borrow from Bavuma, in New Zealand and South Africa have shared the other two.

“I hope it can inspire a lot of people, not just in our country, but all the other other nations as well,” he said.

“I know that a lot of the other nations, the so-called smaller nations, would have been supporting us in our quest. And you know, as a team, our responsibility is always to be as competitive as possible.

“We want to play more we want to play more Test cricket. We want to play against the bigger nations. So I think this will go a long way in making us a lot more attractive, and also the so-called smaller nation. It is inspiring from a lot of angles.”

The Proteas did not play either Australia or England in the most recent cycle and this does not help matters, former star batter and current assistant coach Ashwin Prince said.

“You know, obviously there was a lot of talk about our route to the final and who we played against, whatever the case may be, and people have their opinions about that,” Prince said.

“I can promise you now that we’d love to play against everybody more often, especially if there’s some big money series where we can also make some money.”

South Africa would love to host a Boxing Day Test against Australia. That, of course, will not happen given it is also the opportune time in Australia, with the MCG locked into hosting the post-Christmas Test.

But acknowledging and, in some way, ensuring South Africa and other Test-playing nations remain strong is surely better for both the greater good and also the bottom line. Competitive cricket draws good crowds and boosts the numbers watching from their couches.

Surely everyone is a winner in that case.

ENGLAND SET TO RETAIN HOSTING RIGHTS FOR WTC FINALS

There are questions about the path to the World Test Championship Final amid disparity in the cycle.

Queries have also been raised about finals being played at a neutral venue, as has been the case in all three cycles, with the deciders played at Southampton, The Oval and now Lord’s.

But anyone who has been at the home of cricket over the past four days will attest it was the perfect host for the final, with Lord’s at or near capacity throughout.

The stands were packed with Australian and South African fans, with the Proteas appearing larger in number and louder in voice than the Aussies, but they did have more to celebrate over the course of the final.

There was also a healthy spattering of English fans there as well who were indisputably happy to see the Aussies on the receiving end of a loss in a big final. Bring on the Ashes!

But with the new cycle beginning on Friday when England hosts India, the host for the 2027 final and beyond is yet to be confirmed given the current contract between the England and Wales Cricket Board and the International Cricket Council expired with this final.

But The Telegraph in London reports that the next three finals could also be held in the United Kingdom after the ECB withheld a spirited challenge from India for hosting rights.

Again, nothing is confirmed in this regard. But The Tele is reporting the decision will be ratified at a meeting in Singapore next month.

Having spread the final to different grounds in its first three editions, it will be intriguing to see whether this remains the case over the next three cycles.