Pat Cummins Shines As Bowlers Dominate In WTC Final Day 2 At Lord's

The final match of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 is being played at Lord's, the most historic and beautiful ground of cricket, and the match has now reached its exciting turn. On the second day, the bowlers kept the match completely occupied by their extraordinary performance. Just like the first day, a total of 14 wickets fell on the second day too, which made it clear that this pitch has become a battleground for bowlers, not for batsmen. The South African team, who had lost four crucial wickets for 43 runs on the first day, could not recover even on the second day. Although the Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma and David Bedigham struggled for some time but managed to share a 64-run partnership for the fifth wicket, the partnership could not last long. As soon as Australian captain Pat Cummins showed his real form, the South African batsmen fell like the pack of cards.

Cummins consistently took wickets with his fast and accurate bowling, dismissed Kyle Vernon for an lbw, and then caught Marco Jansen. He then got the wicket of Bedigham, the most stable batsman in the innings, caught behind the wicket, and almost took the game to their side. The last two wickets also fell quickly. Keshav Maharaj was run out, and Rabada was caught by Cummins at deep midwicket, and with that Cummins got his sixth wicket. With this spectacular performance, Cummins not only took six wickets in this innings, but he also completed 300 wickets in his Test career. He has become the first fast-bowling captain since 1982 to take a five-wicket haul at Lord's, whose name is now recorded on Lord's 'Honours Board.'

South Africa's entire innings was reduced to 138 runs, and Australia got a lead of 74 runs in the first innings. Cummins also got good support from Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, who took three wickets all together. But the story didn't end there.

When Australia came out to play in the second innings, the South African bowlers were also determined to make a comeback. Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi shook Australia's batting with superb line and length. First Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green were out, and then experienced batsmen like Steve Smith and Beau Webster also returned to the pavilion.

Australia's condition became worse on the second day when they came out to bat, losing 7 wickets for just 73 runs. It seemed that the whole team would be stacked before 100 runs, but then Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc took the lead, both of them sharing an important partnership of 61 runs for the eighth wicket and bringing the team's total lead beyond 200 runs. By the end of the day's play, Australia had scored 144 runs for eight wickets, and their total lead was 218 runs. Mitchell Starc is unbeaten on 16 runs and Nathan Lyon on 1 run at the crease.

There are now three days left in this match, but seeing the way the pitch of Lord's is helping the fast bowlers, it would not be wrong to say that the match can end on the third day. Australia's lead may not be huge, but chasing more than 200 runs on this pitch will be extremely difficult. If the Australian bowlers once again bowl the same kind of lethal bowling as they did in the first innings, it will be extremely difficult for South Africa to make a comeback.