London, June 13 (UNI) A fighting half-century from Mitchell Starc propelled Australia to 207 in their second innings on the third morning of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Final at Lord’s, setting South Africa a stiff target of 288 runs for victory.
Starc remained unbeaten on 58, adding a crucial 59 runs for the last wicket with Josh Hazlewood (17), frustrating the Proteas attack under bright skies. The duo’s defiant partnership ensured Australia extended their lead and ended their innings just before lunch on Day 3.
Kagiso Rabada provided South Africa with an early breakthrough, dismissing Nathan Lyon for 2 and taking his tally to nine wickets in the match. However, the pace quartet, including Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen, failed to extract the same venom from the pitch, which now seems to have eased into a favourable surface for batting.