London, June 13 (IANS) Mitchell Starc made a vital 58, his first Test fifty since 2019, as Australia set South Africa a challenging target of 282 to win the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final after making 207 in 65 overs of their second innings on day three at Lord’s.

On a day where the sun shined bright and conditions eased out for batting, it meant Starc, who was dropped on 14 in the final over of day two’s play, was at his resolute best to take the lead past 280, while sharing a 59-run last-wicket partnership with an equally solid Josh Hazlewood.

For South Africa, who bowled 22 extras, including 10 no-balls, Kagiso Rabada picked 4-59 while Lungi Ngidi returned with figures of 3-38. Resuming day three from 144/8, Rabada struck by trapping Nathan Lyon lbw, with the ball tracking showing the ball would hit the top of the leg stump.

Starc and Hazlewood were largely untroubled by South Africa’s pacers, as they didn’t get sideways movement. The duo getting four quick boundaries meant Australia’s lead went past 250. Starc was the aggressor in the partnership while Hazlewood firmly held one end up as the duo put on the highest tenth-wicket stand in any men’s ICC championship final.

Starc then got his 11th Test fifty in the 64th over by flashing at one outside off-stump from Marco Jansen and went over the slip cordon to get a streaky boundary, which also brought up Australia’s 200 as well, as South Africa’s shoulders began to drop.

South Africa’s frustrating time on the field ended when Hazlewood punched off the back foot to a wide one from Aiden Markram and was caught by cover, as the tenth-wicket stand was worth a whopping 59 runs coming off batting out 22.2 overs, to give South Africa a daunting fourth innings total to chase.

Brief scores: Australia 212 and 207 in 65 overs (Mitchell Starc 58, Alex Carey 43; Kagiso Rabada 4-59, Lungi Ngidi 3-38) lead South Africa 138 in 57.1 overs by 218 runs.

–IANS

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