South African fast bowling great Dale Steyn has delivered a candid assessment of Lungi Ngidi’s bowling mechanics, pointing to serious flaws in the pacer’s run-up that are affecting both his rhythm and overall consistency. The former Proteas pacer noted that Lungi needs ‘some serious work’ to fix his run-up as his speed drops after a certain point and for the same reason, he fails to stay consistent.
“His run up needs some serious work. He starts good the first half and unfortunately by the time he hits the second half he’s almost dropped in speed and momentum, pedestrian really, forced to then use his body and action for pace it’s then always a fight to deliver consistency,” Steyn tweeted.
Ngidi fails to clinch any wicket in first innings of WTC final
Kagiso Rabada dominated the first innings of the World Test Championship final as South Africa restricted Australia to 212 runs. Rabada picked up a five-wicket haul, his second at the iconic Lord’s. On the other hand, Marco Jansen clinched three wickets and Keshav Maharaj and Aiden Markram picked up one each.
Ngidi conceded 45 runs in his eight overs and it prompted Steyn to comment on his poor performance. The Australia batters were under extreme pressure early on but Ngidi failed to capitalise on that in the middle overs as the likes of Steve Smith and Beau Webster looked comfortable against the 29-year-old.
Australia return the honours in second innings
Just like the Proteas pacers, Australians dominated with the ball on Day 1 of the WTC final. Mitchell Starc started the proceedings with a double whammy, dismissing Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton. Wiaan Mulder and Tristan Stubbs soon followed suit as South Africa ended the day with 43/4.
Former England international Kevin Pietersen was upset with South Africa’s approach, who later called it out on X. “One ball will have your name on it. Till then SCORE RUNS! Defending isn’t the play,” Pietersen tweeted.