South Africa have secured their first major title by beating defending champions Australia by five wickets in the final of the World Test Championship at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London.
The Proteas knocked off the remaining 29 runs they needed before lunch on Saturday – sealing the win with more than a day and a half to spare, and sparking emotional celebrations in front of a packed crowd.
They moved from a portentous 213-2 overnight to 282-5, the second-highest successful run chase in the 141-year Rest history at the self-proclaimed home of cricket.
Australia did not give up the WTC mace easily, relentlessly attacking the stumps and pressuring a South Africa side with an infamous history of blowing winning positions on big ICC stages.
But South Africa was staunch and composed, only three boundaries in more than two hours, and lost only three wickets on Saturday in an air of inevitability.
“We’ve come a long way as a team, as a country,” an emotional Keshav Maharaj said. “We always say we want to be good people and play good. We’re moving in the right direction as a cricketing nation.
Referencing South Africa’s last title of any kind, the 1998 ICC Champions Trophy, Maharaj fought back tears in adding, “After 27 years of pain, to finally get over the line is super emotional. We’re so grateful to have Temba (Bavuma, captain) to get us over the line.
“Diversity is our strength, so to see the crowd, they stand for the meaning of our rainbow nation. To lift the trophy is going to unite the nation even more.”
The desperate Australians used up all of their three reviews in vain within the first 90 minutes, but fought to the end. They took the new ball but were still blunted by a flat pitch.
Markram was the colossus Australia could not topple until it was too late.
The opener resumed the day on 102 and was out for 136 when only six more runs were needed. He spent six hours, 23 minutes in the middle.
About 15 minutes later, Kyle Verreynne broke the tension by hitting the winning run, a drive into the covers.
Markram and captain Temba Bavuma set up the victory with an unbeaten and chanceless partnership of 143 runs the day before. They could not finish what they started, adding only four runs together before Bavuma edged Pat Cummins behind for 66, one more than he had overnight.
Tristan Stubbs was castled on 8 by Mitchell Starc with 41 runs needed and South Africa was too close to the finish to be denied.
But Markram could not have the pleasure himself. With six runs needed to win, he was caught at midwicket by Travis Head off Josh Hazlewood.
Australia did not celebrate. Instead, players slapped Markram on the back and congratulated him on his match-winning knock as the Lord’s crowd stood and applauded.
They stood again when the end finally came, a rout of red-hot Australia with five sessions to spare.
South Africa’s history on the ICC’s biggest stages has been infamously cruel. The venues and dates of their most heart-breaking losses include Birmingham 1999, Dhaka 2011, Auckland 2015, Kolkata 2023 and Bridgetown 2024.
But London 2025 will go down as one of the greatest days in South African sport, when its cricket underdogs grabbed the advantage and did not let go against one of the great Australia Test sides to seal the title that ranks alongside the ICC’s Cricket World Cup and the T20 World Cup.
South Africa were criticised before the final for its supposedly easier road — it did not face Australia or England in a series in the 2023-2025 WTC cycle — but it has won eight straight tests, its second-longest streak in history, and half of them away from home.
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