SA vs AUS | Twitter stunned as No.11 batter Josh Hazlewood brings out inner batter with stylish upper-cut

‌With Australia looking down the slope after being reduced to 73/7, with an overall lead of 147, on the second day of the World Test Championship 2025 final against South Africa, the lower order came up with a resilient batting show to pull them out of the hole. Wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc first added 61 runs for the eighth wicket to take the lead past the 200-run mark.

And once South Africa bounced back with two wickets in the gap of 14 runs, the defending champion yet again showed why they are a tough nut to crack in a final as last-man Josh Hazlewood walked in. The left-handed pair frustrated the Proteas further by ticking the scoreboard and batting out time but Hazlewood pulled a bolt out of the blue when he came with a surprising shot.

With Marco Jansen using the short-ball ploy as a last resort, he was in for the shock of his life. With the red cherry climbing on him after pitching short, Hazlewood moved away slightly from the stumps to upper-cut the left-arm pacer over the slip cordon for another boundary.

An over later, his partner Starc completed his 11th half-century in Test cricket with a boundary that also brought the 50-run partnership between both the quicks. And when Hazlewood was finally dismissed for 17, the Aussies had already set a formidable target of 282 for the Proteas, who were looking worn out from the assault of the lower-order batters.