Smith left perplexed despite more record-breaking exploits

On the day he set a new benchmark for overseas batters in Tests at Lord's – a ground he knows better than most – Steve Smith was still left in disbelief following his 'unfathomable' dismissal.

Smith resurrected Australia's innings on the opening day of the World Test Championship final with his 112-ball 66 guiding the reigning champions out of trouble having slipped to 4-67 after being asked to bat first by South Africa.

The veteran right-hander added 79 for the fifth-wicket with allrounder Beau Webster with 50 of those runs coming in 78 balls after lunch as the pair seized back the momentum following a shaky start.

But just as 36-year-old seemed destined for another memorable Lord's moment, part-time off-spinner Aiden Markram conjured the vital breakthrough as Smith swung hard at a full delivery but only succeeded in finding Marco Jansen at slip.

Asked post-play if he'd gleaned any insights Australia could take into their second innings, Smith offered this frank assessment of his own demise: "Don't nick the part-time off-spinner.

"Down the slope. I'm still trying to fathom how I've done that.

"But yeah, don't do that. And we've just got to play what's in front of us (in the second innings)."

After Kagiso Rabada and Jansen left Australia's new-look top order in tatters, Smith had progressed effortlessly to his 18th half-century or better on English soil – a Test record for visiting batters.

Along the way he'd gone past Don Bradman's (551) tally at Lord's, with his 51st run making him the most successful overseas batter at the north London venue, overtaking Australian Warren Bardsley's (575) mark that had stood for almost 100 years.

"I felt in a nice place, I love batting here at Lord's," Smith said.

"I enjoyed my time out there while I was out there (but) left a few in the shed unfortunately."

Smith revealed Australia would have batted anyway if skipper Pat Cummins had won the toss, but said he wasn't surprised at the seam movement South Africa's quicks were able to extract from the surface, especially under gloomy skies in the opening session.

"I feel day one here it always offers a little bit of something, even when the colour of the wicket was quite white (like it was today)," he said.

"I've seen one-day (international) wickets that we've played on here where it's been similar and it's actually seamed quite a bit, particularly with the newer ball.

So I always feel like it offers something, particularly early on in the game. As the grass dies down, I think it's going to offer less.

"It might take a bit more spin as the game wears on, it's pretty dry.

"The seam movement might go down as the game goes on as well, so I think the bounce is going to be variable throughout, as we've seen already on day one.

"Hopefully we can get a few early wickets in the morning, go through them and have a bit of a lead – that's the ideal scenario for us right now."

Proteas spearhead Rabada also enhanced his Lord's reputation on the opening day of the WTC decider, claiming his second five-wicket haul in as many matches at the Home of Cricket to succeed Morne Morkel (15) as SA's most successful bowler at Lord's with 18 wickets halfway through his third game there.

He also took his career Test tally to 332 wickets, surpassing the legendary Allan Donald (330) into fourth on the Proteas all-time list.

He said his side would have taken bowling Australia out for 212 when Temba Bavuma opted to bowl first at the toss, but lamented that they potentially should have had the No.1-ranked Test side back in the sheds for 160 after having them four down at lunch.

"Right now, at 4-43, that's not the start we're looking for, but there's still a lot of cricket to be played in this Test match," Rabada said at stumps.

"The ball was nipping quite a bit and at times moving off the slope a lot.

"But I still felt like batters could get in.

"If you just bowled well and got more balls in the right area for a long period of time, then that's when you could create chances.

"But with this ball getting older, hopefully we can score some runs as it (does)."

World Test Championship Final

June 11-15: South Africa v Australia, Lord's

Broadcast exclusively on Prime Video in Australia. Sign up here for a 30-day free trial

Australia XI: Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

South Africa XI: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma (c), Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi