The history of fast bowling in South Africa is phenomenal, going back several generations through the likes of Allan Donald, Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn — and in recent years, Kagiso Rabada. Rabada went where none of his predecessors have gone before, winning a top-tier ICC trophy, leading South Africa’s charge at Lord’s as they beat Australia to win the World Test Championship.
In the final itself, Rabada was the lead man, taking 5 wickets in the first innings and adding on 4 more in the second. In the wake of a controversial month for the lead man, this was a statement performance, creating history for his team.
In the wake of the result, Rabada understood the importance of the win to the team — but also didn’t hold back from firing shots at their critics, pointing out that South Africa achieved the pinnacle of Test cricket despite the constant doubters and those who would knock downt heir achievement.
“I can’t describe in words how it feels at the moment. Obviously extremely happy, throughout this entire season we’ve played really well, we’ve worked really hard. I think we deserve to get into this position,” said Rabada on his on-field interview.
“People were saying we weren’t playing good enough opposition, but I think that’s rubbish. We came here and we played the best team. Australia have been magnificent all season, and we had to be on our A-game to beat them,” said the 30-year-old, who was their leader with the ball as he finished with figures of 9-110, bowling his heart out throughout.
Rabada the hero in WTC final with ball
South Africa were considered underdogs in this match, given a relatively straightforward run to the WTC Final. Be that as it may, lifting the trophy meant playing their best cricket on the biggest stage, something that has evaded the team for 27 long years.
South Africa’s winning streak, that saw them unbeaten in their last four series, across eight Test matches, was extended with this win at Lord’s.The South African cricket administration has made strong points about how they receive fewer marquee series against the big three cricket nations from one end, but were also at the same time criticised for not facing the strong opposition enroute to the final.
Once in the final, it didn’t matter to Temba Bavuma and his men, who put forward a fantastic performance to keep fighting back and staying alive, taking the bull by the horns and completing a memorable, historic Test victory.