London, June 12 (IANS) David Bedingham managed to get over his share of ‘plays and misses’ to be unbeaten on 39 as South Africa reached 121/5 in 49 overs and trailed Australia by 91 runs at lunch on the second day of the five-day 2025 ICC World Test Championship Final at Lord’s on Thursday.

Resuming from 43/4, South Africa amassed 78 runs in the morning session on Day Two, with Australia captain Pat Cummins taking out his Proteas counterpart Temba Bavuma. A lot will ride on Bedingham and Kyle Verreynne (11 not out) in ensuring South Africa inch closer to surpassing Australia’s first innings total of 212.

As compared to his stoic nature in the final session on Day One, Bavuma got going by hammering Mitchell Starc for two drives, before Bedingham unfurled an on-drive off the left-arm pacer. On 17, Bavuma was trapped lbw by Josh Hazlewood, but he survived as replays showed an inside edge.

Bavuma continued to show a proactive approach by cracking Starc and Hazlewood for boundaries, before swivelling Cummins over square leg for six, even as Bedingham brought out a straight drive. The 64-run stand between Bavuma and Bedingham ended when the South African captain went for an uppish drive off Cummins, but Marnus Labuschagne dived to his right to take a superb catch and send back the batter for 36.

In the final over before lunch, there was a potential handled-the-ball moment when Bedingham inside-edged into his pad-flap and immediately reached down to grab the ball to throw it on the ground, even as Alex Carey was getting forward to claim for a catch. Bedingham then cracked two boundaries off Webster to end a good session in South Africa’s favour.

Brief scores:

Australia 212 in 56.4 overs (Beau Webster 72, Steve Smith 66; Kagiso Rabada 5-51, Marco Jansen 3-49) lead South Africa 121/5 in 49 overs (David Bedingham 39, Temba Bavuma 36; Pat Cummins 2-24, Mitchell Starc 2-38) by 91 runs

–IANS

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