New Delhi: 

Kagiso Rabada rattled Australia with a five-wicket haul in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 final at the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London on Wednesday to go past the legendary Allan Donald in an elite list for South Africa.

Rabada ran through the Aussie batting line-up to finish with excellent figures of 5/51, helping the Proteas bundle out Australia for 211 runs in their first innings on Day 1.

Australia fight back after Rabada’s fifer

Australian bowlers led the fightback after Rabada’s exceptional fifer saw the Pat Cummins-led side get bundled out for 211 runs in their first innings of the final. Australia’s pace trio of Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and skipper Pat Cummins bowled well with the new ball to reduce South Africa to 43/4 at stumps on the opening day.

Starc drew the first blood on the very first over as he removed Aiden Markram on a duck. The left-arm pacer removed Ryan Rickelton cheaply on 16 to bag his second wicket in the game before Cummins got rid of Wiaan Mulder cheaply on 6 off 44 balls. Hazlewood dismissed Tristan Stubbs on 2 to reduce South Africa to tatters before the end of the day’s play at the Lord’s.

Rabada got South Africa off to a fiery start after skipper Temba Bavuma won the toss and opted to bowl first against the defending champions in the high-pressure final. The pacer struck twice in an over to dismiss Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green cheaply, before wiping out Australia’s tail to complete his 17th five-wicket haul in Test cricket.

Rabada became only the second bowler after New Zealand pacer Kyle Jamieson to take a fifer in the WTC final. With his fifer, he also surpassed former Proteas pacer Donald on the elite list of bowlers with the most wickets for South Africa in Test cricket. Rabada now has 332 wickets in 71 Test matches for South Africa, two more than Donald, who finished his career with 330 wickets in 72 matches at an average of 21.82.

Most Test wickets for South Africa:

439 – Dale Steyn
421 – Shaun Pollock
390 – Makhaya Ntini
332 – Kagiso Rabada
330 – Allan Donald

Rabada overtook Donald to become South Africa’s 4th highest wicket-taker in Test cricket, behind only Dale Steyn, Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini.

He is also currently the leading wicket-taker for South Africa in the ongoing WTC 2023-25 cycle with 52 wickets in 11 matches so far at an average of 19.03, including four five-wicket hauls.

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