The opening day of the 2025 World Test Championship final lived up to its hype. A whopping 14 wickets fell at Lord’s as the seamers from both sides relished the conditions on offer. At the end of the first day’s play, Australia had a marginal advantage, having reduced South Africa to 43/4 after producing a modest 212 themselves. There were many star acts on show, the biggest of them coming from the usual suspects – Kagiso Rabada and Steve Smith. Both players achieved significant milestones during the day and also engaged in an engrossing battle against each other.

While Rabada went past Allan Donald in the list of South Africa’s most successful pacers in Tests, Smith notched up his 18th fifty-plus score in England – the most by any visiting batter. Smith’s feat saw him overtake Sir Viv Richards and Allan Border, both of whom had 17 to their name. The Australian no. 4 also became the highest run-scorer at Lord’s among the overseas batters, heading a list of elite batters in the process.

The battle between Smith and Rabada was touted to be one of the biggest sub-plots heading into the final. On a day when both achieved personal milestones, it was Smith who came out on top in the duel against the South African pace ace. The drama during their battles was inevitable, and there were moments of box office entertainment. The very first ball that Smith faced from Rabada moved in sharply off the pitch to strike the Australian on the thigh pad. It was the challenging new-ball phase where the South African seamers were getting the ball to talk prodigiously.

Smith then got a few boundaries away, mainly through the cover-drive and back-foot punches square of the wicket. There was also a streaky inside edge that just missed leg stump and raced to the fine leg fence. Smith, though, largely weathered Rabada’s spells with ease, and it must also be noted that the latter bowled a lot of boundary deliveries as well, which the Aussie veteran duly put away. One of the boundaries that he struck off Rabada got Smith to his landmark half-century in England. Rabada managed to get the odd ball to probe off the pitch, but Smith appeared to have things under control throughout their duel.

It was an innings Australia desperately needed after having lost their new-look top order very early in the morning session. Travis Head tried to counterattack thereafter and was looking ominous before getting a faint tickle down the leg-side for Kyle Verreynne to take a screamer behind the sticks. The score read 67/4 at lunch with South Africa firmly on top. Smith, though, weathered the storm in the company of innings top-scorer Beau Webster, who struck a fluent fifty himself. The rookie took his time initially before expanding his range of strokes against the pacers. Webster benefited from Smith’s presence at the other end as the senior batter controlled proceedings.

It seemed like Smith was set for the coveted three-figure milestone one more time at Lord’s, but his innings was cut short when he perished against the run of play to the part-time spin of Aiden Markram. The manner of his dismissal surprised everyone and irked the man himself.

“Down the slope. I’m still trying to fathom how I have done that,” said Smith at the press conference after the opening day’s play.

“I felt in a nice place, I love batting here at Lord’s. I enjoyed my time out there while I was out there (but) left a few in the shed unfortunately.”

South Africa’s decision to bowl first surprised the pundits who felt that the Proteas should have taken first strike. However, the overhead conditions at Lord’s and the grass covering hinted at the obvious decision to bowl first. Additionally, teams opting to bat first at the venue had won only once in the last five games played. It meant that recent history and the conditions on offer were both in favour of the Proteas bowling first. Smith also explained that the seamer-friendly conditions didn’t come as a surprise.

“I feel day one here it always offers a little bit of something, even when the colour of the wicket was quite white (like it was today),” he stated.

“I’ve seen one-day (international) wickets that we’ve played on here where it’s been similar and it’s actually seamed quite a bit, particularly with the newer ball. So I always feel like it offers something, particularly early on in the game.”

Unlike some of the spicier surfaces that Test cricket has witnessed in recent times, Smith doesn’t feel that this Lord’s track will maintain its menace in terms of pace. Historically, the second and third days have been relatively more straightforward to bat on at the venue, before things get trickier on the last two days. The trend could continue here, although how much easier it gets to bat has to be seen. Australia will hope that the pitch aids their quicks for a bit more longer but Smith was pragmatic about the topic.

“As the grass dies down, I think it’s going to offer less. It might take a bit more spin as the game wears on, it’s pretty dry. The seam movement might go down as the game goes on as well, so I think the bounce is going to be variable throughout, as we’ve seen already on day one.”

“Hopefully we can get a few early wickets in the morning, go through them and have a bit of a lead – that’s the ideal scenario for us right now.”