Day 1 of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 Final between Australia and South Africa at Lord’s had its fair share of drama, momentum shifts, and one particularly costly oversight. Under cloudy skies, South Africa’s pace battery had the Aussies in trouble early on, but a missed DRS opportunity in the second session allowed Australia to claw their way back. Beau Webster, the man at the centre of the moment, made the most of his reprieve—much to South Africa’s regret.
South Africa’s DRS blunder on Beau Webster
At 94/4, Australia were on the ropes when Kagiso Rabada bowled a sharp in-swinger to Webster. The ball struck his back leg, and though it looked like a strong LBW appeal, the Proteas assumed an inside edge due to Webster’s bat being close to the pad. The on-field appeal was half-hearted, and the umpire turned it down. Surprisingly, South Africa didn’t opt for a DRS review.
Television replays soon revealed that there was no bat involved and the ball would’ve gone on to hit the stumps. Webster, who was batting on 8 at the time, survived and went on to score a vital 72 off 92 balls, hitting 11 fours and stitching together a crucial 79-run stand with Steve Smith. The missed review proved to be a major turning point in the day’s play.
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Steve Smith reacts to the DRS drama
Smith, who was at the non-striker’s end, later shared his surprise at the Proteas’ muted appeal, saying that from his vantage point at the non-striker’s end, the delivery from Rabada looked like a clear candidate for dismissal. He noted that Webster was in discomfort after being struck, and it didn’t appear to hit the bat or pad properly—just the leg. Smith mentioned that Rabada might have thought there was contact with the bat, which could have influenced the team’s hesitation. However, Smith found it surprising that in such a crucial match, the Proteas didn’t appeal more strongly or use the DRS when they had it available.
“I heard it was out, is that right? Yeah – It looked pretty good to me from the other end. I don’t know what actually happened there. I know Beau was in a little bit of pain. I don’t think it actually hit his pad, I think it just hit his leg. Someone said they saw a Rabada shape to say he might have hit it. Certainly, didn’t look like that from my view, but yeah I was surprised they didn’t appeal more. I don’t think many people really went up, to be honest. Where I was, I was like, geez, that looks pretty good. But they had a chance to use a referral and didn’t,” said Smith after the end of first day’s play.
