Kagiso Rabada’s five-wicket haul in the World Test Championship 2023-2025 final earned him a place on the home honours board at Lord’s.
Rabada joins Donald, Ntini in Lord’s honours board double entry
Rabada claimed 5-51 against Australia on the first day of the 2023-2025 World Test Championship final, at Lord’s. He removed Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green inside his first four overs to reduce Australia to 16-2, and claimed three of the last four wickets in 13 balls to bowl out Australia for 212.
This was the 15th instance of a South African taking a five-wicket haul in a Test match at Lord’s, London, and the third instance of anyone from the country doing it twice. All three have played their cricket since South Africa’s readmission to Test cricket in 1992.
Read: On grandest stage, Kagiso Rabada seizes moment that might never have come
South Africans with two Test five-wicket hauls at Lord’s
| Bowler | Five-wicket hauls at Lord’s |
| Allan Donald | 5-74 (1994), 5-32 (1998) |
| Makhaya Ntini | 5-75 and 5-140 (2003) |
| Kagiso Rabada | 5-52 (2022), 5-51 (2025) |
Final, South Africa vs Australia
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Why is Rabada on the home honours board at Lord’s?
The honours board is part of the tradition at Lord’s. Whenever a cricketer scores a hundred or claims a five-wicket haul, they get honoured with an entry on the board. There are separate boards for home and away performances.
However, Lord’s has also hosted three neutral Tests, between Australia and South Africa in 1912, between Pakistan and Australia in 2010, and the ongoing World Test Championship final.
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Australians Warren Bardsley and Charles Kellaway had scored hundreds in the 1912 Test, but their achievements were not “recognised” on a board. Then, ahead of the 2010 Test, the MCC put up a neutral honours board in the away dressing-room. During that 2010 Test, Shane Watson and Marcus North claimed five-fors, and got duly honoured.
According to a BBC report, however, the MCC did away with the neutral board during a refurbishment. The Lord’s website puts the year as 2019. Since South Africa entered the WTC final after topping the league stage, they got allotted the home dressing room (and the corresponding honours board).
The BBC report mentions that the authorities – as per tradition – wrote Rabada’s name on a piece of paper and stuck it to the home honours board. These names stay there until they are written in gold lettering. Rabada’s name will presumably remain there.
“It was cool to have it in the home changing room now,” reacted Rabada.
Has any non-Englishman been on the Lord’s home honours board before Rabada?
The Lord’s honours board honours performances, but not necessarily only in Test cricket. Thus, Gordon Greenidge has his name on the home honours board for his 122 for the MCC against the Rest of the World in 1987. He was, until Rabada, the only non-Englishman to feature on the home honours board.
Greenidge had also made 214 not out in 1984 and 103 in 1988 in Test matches at the same venue for the West Indies against England. He and Rabada are the only ones to appear on both the home and away boards.
Postscript
All this, however, is about the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. The now-defunct Lord’s in Durban hosted four Test matches between 1909/10 and 1920/21, and was witness to four hundreds (two by South Africans) and nine five-wicket hauls (four by the home team).
