South Africa has finally broken a jinx of 27 long years of winning an ICC title and their tag of chokers after they defeated Australia by five wickets in the World Test Championship (WTC 2025 Final).
Aiden Markram was the star of the Proteas chase, with a record-breaking 136. Skipper Temba Bavum also showed incredible grit to bat with a hamstring issue and added a steely 66 as South Afria wrapped up their chase of 282 comfortably in the end.
Earlier, Australia managed 212 (1st innings) and 207 (2nd innings). For South Africa, Kagiso Rabada was the pick of the bowlers across both innings with a fifer and four-wicket haul.
On the other hand, Aussie skipper Pat Cummins led from the front with a six-wicket haul in SA’s first innings to bundle them out for 138 and give the defending champions a 74 run lead, but the masterclass from POTM Markram in the final innings took the game away from them.
5.18 PM IST
South Africa has made history! They have beaten Australia by five wickets to win their maiden WTC title. An ICC title after 27 years!!
5.02 PM IST
WICKET! Some late drama in the match as South Africa’s key man in the chase, Aiden Markram falls on 136 with just five more runs needed for a win.
4.50 PM IST
Australia have been unable to find breakthroughs with Aiden Markram single-handedly taking the game away. Bedingham at the other end is providing good support to Markram as well. SA need just 10 more tuns to win maiden WTC title.
4.29 PM IST
250 up! South Africa are inching closer to their first WTC title and are just 32 runs away from their target. They will need to make sure to not commit unnecessary errors and gift a wicket to the Aussies now.
4.15 PM IST
WICKET! The Australians are slowly chipping away at the Proteas batting lineup. Starc gets the better of Stubbs with a 145 kmph ripper as SA now lose their fourth wicket.
4.05 PM IST
After the early blow on Day 4, Stubbs and Markram are steadily propelling the Proteas closer to the finishing line. The Aussies will need to find a couple of breakthroughs to shift the momentum in their favour.
3.42 PM IST
REVIEW LOST! Cummins traps Stubbs. Gets the length ball to slant back into Stubbs starting around off stump and seaming into him. Huge appeal and the umpire turns it down. Pat Cummins goes up for the review. Replays confirm no bat but the ball is sliding down leg as Australia are now down to two reviews.
3:20 PM IST
Three Overs have gone and Pat Cummins just struck, dismissing Temba Bavuma caught behind for 66. Markram is still unbeaten on 106.
The Australian Pacers have made a strong start as they have troubled both the batters on multiple occasions already. The wicket looks two-paced and has uneven bounce so far.
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| Batting | R | B | M | 4s | 6s | SR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aiden Markram | c Head b Hazlewood | 136 | 207 | 383 | 14 | 0 | 65.70 | ||
| Ryan Rickelton | c †Carey b Starc | 6 | 8 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 75.00 | ||
| Wiaan Mulder | c Labuschagne b Starc | 27 | 50 | 68 | 5 | 0 | 54.00 | ||
| Temba Bavuma (c) | c †Carey b Cummins | 66 | 134 | 195 | 5 | 0 | 49.25 | ||
| Tristan Stubbs | b Starc | 8 | 43 | 53 | 0 | 0 | 18.60 | ||
| David Bedingham | not out | 21 | 49 | 62 | 1 | 0 | 42.85 | ||
| Kyle Verreynne † | not out | 4 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 30.76 | ||
| Extras | (b 8, lb 4, nb 2) | 14 | |||||||
| Total | 83.4 Ov (RR: 3.37) | 282/5 | |||||||
| Did not bat: Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi | |||||||||
| Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Ryan Rickelton, 2.1 ov), 2-70 (Wiaan Mulder, 17.4 ov), 3-217 (Temba Bavuma, 58.6 ov), 4-241 (Tristan Stubbs, 70.3 ov), 5-276 (Aiden Markram, 80.6 ov) • DRS | |||||||||
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | ECON | WD | NB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mitchell Starc | 14.4 | 1 | 66 | 3 | 4.50 | 0 | 0 | |
| Josh Hazlewood | 19 | 2 | 58 | 1 | 3.05 | 0 | 0 | |
| Pat Cummins | 17 | 0 | 59 | 1 | 3.47 | 0 | 1 | |
| Nathan Lyon | 26 | 4 | 66 | 0 | 2.53 | 0 | 0 | |
| Beau Webster | 5 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 2.60 | 0 | 1 | |
| Travis Head | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 4.00 | 0 | 0 |
| Batting | R | B | M | 4s | 6s | SR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marnus Labuschagne | c †Verreynne b Jansen | 22 | 64 | 88 | 2 | 0 | 34.37 | ||
| Usman Khawaja | c †Verreynne b Rabada | 6 | 23 | 49 | 0 | 0 | 26.08 | ||
| Cameron Green | c Mulder b Rabada | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | ||
| Steven Smith | lbw b Ngidi | 13 | 25 | 42 | 1 | 0 | 52.00 | ||
| Travis Head | b Mulder | 9 | 18 | 32 | 1 | 0 | 50.00 | ||
| Beau Webster | lbw b Ngidi | 9 | 11 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 81.81 | ||
| Alex Carey † | lbw b Rabada | 43 | 50 | 78 | 5 | 0 | 86.00 | ||
| Pat Cummins (c) | b Ngidi | 6 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 120.00 | ||
| Mitchell Starc | not out | 58 | 136 | 190 | 5 | 0 | 42.64 | ||
| Nathan Lyon | lbw b Rabada | 2 | 13 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 15.38 | ||
| Josh Hazlewood | c Maharaj b Markram | 17 | 53 | 101 | 2 | 0 | 32.07 | ||
| Extras | (b 6, lb 6, nb 10) | 22 | |||||||
| Total | 65 Ov (RR: 3.18) | 207 | |||||||
| Fall of wickets: 1-28 (Usman Khawaja, 10.2 ov), 2-28 (Cameron Green, 10.4 ov), 3-44 (Marnus Labuschagne, 17.5 ov), 4-48 (Steven Smith, 18.5 ov), 5-64 (Beau Webster, 22.6 ov), 6-66 (Travis Head, 23.4 ov), 7-73 (Pat Cummins, 24.5 ov), 8-134 (Alex Carey, 38.2 ov), 9-148 (Nathan Lyon, 42.4 ov), 10-207 (Josh Hazlewood, 64.6 ov) • DRS | |||||||||
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | ECON | WD | NB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kagiso Rabada | 18 | 1 | 59 | 4 | 3.27 | 0 | 5 | |
| Marco Jansen | 18 | 3 | 58 | 1 | 3.22 | 0 | 3 | |
| Wiaan Mulder | 8 | 1 | 18 | 1 | 2.25 | 0 | 2 | |
| Lungi Ngidi | 13 | 1 | 38 | 3 | 2.92 | 0 | 0 | |
| Keshav Maharaj | 6 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 2.83 | 0 | 0 | |
| Aiden Markram | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2.50 | 0 | 0 |
| Batting | R | B | M | 4s | 6s | SR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aiden Markram | b Starc | 0 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | ||
| Ryan Rickelton | c Khawaja b Starc | 16 | 23 | 42 | 3 | 0 | 69.56 | ||
| Wiaan Mulder | b Cummins | 6 | 44 | 68 | 0 | 0 | 13.63 | ||
| Temba Bavuma (c) | c Labuschagne b Cummins | 36 | 84 | 142 | 4 | 1 | 42.85 | ||
| Tristan Stubbs | b Hazlewood | 2 | 13 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 15.38 | ||
| David Bedingham | c †Carey b Cummins | 45 | 111 | 158 | 6 | 0 | 40.54 | ||
| Kyle Verreynne † | lbw b Cummins | 13 | 39 | 50 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 | ||
| Marco Jansen | c & b Cummins | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | ||
| Keshav Maharaj | run out (Head/†Carey) | 7 | 15 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 46.66 | ||
| Kagiso Rabada | c Webster b Cummins | 1 | 6 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 16.66 | ||
| Lungi Ngidi | not out | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | ||
| Extras | (lb 10, nb 2) | 12 | |||||||
| Total | 57.1 Ov (RR: 2.41) | 138 | |||||||
| Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Aiden Markram, 0.6 ov), 2-19 (Ryan Rickelton, 8.4 ov), 3-25 (Wiaan Mulder, 15.2 ov), 4-30 (Tristan Stubbs, 20.2 ov), 5-94 (Temba Bavuma, 39.2 ov), 6-126 (Kyle Verreynne, 51.3 ov), 7-126 (Marco Jansen, 51.6 ov), 8-135 (David Bedingham, 55.2 ov), 9-138 (Keshav Maharaj, 56.5 ov), 10-138 (Kagiso Rabada, 57.1 ov) • DRS | |||||||||
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | ECON | WD | NB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mitchell Starc | 13 | 3 | 41 | 2 | 3.15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Josh Hazlewood | 15 | 5 | 27 | 1 | 1.80 | 0 | 0 | |
| Pat Cummins | 18.1 | 6 | 28 | 6 | 1.54 | 0 | 1 | |
| Nathan Lyon | 8 | 3 | 12 | 0 | 1.50 | 0 | 0 | |
| Beau Webster | 3 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 6.66 | 0 | 1 |
| Batting | R | B | M | 4s | 6s | SR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Usman Khawaja | c Bedingham b Rabada | 0 | 20 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | ||
| Marnus Labuschagne | c †Verreynne b Jansen | 17 | 56 | 87 | 1 | 0 | 30.35 | ||
| Cameron Green | c Markram b Rabada | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 133.33 | ||
| Steven Smith | c Jansen b Markram | 66 | 112 | 162 | 10 | 0 | 58.92 | ||
| Travis Head | c †Verreynne b Jansen | 11 | 13 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 84.61 | ||
| Beau Webster | c Bedingham b Rabada | 72 | 92 | 139 | 11 | 0 | 78.26 | ||
| Alex Carey † | b Maharaj | 23 | 31 | 42 | 4 | 0 | 74.19 | ||
| Pat Cummins (c) | b Rabada | 1 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 16.66 | ||
| Mitchell Starc | b Rabada | 1 | 12 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 8.33 | ||
| Nathan Lyon | b Jansen | 0 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | ||
| Josh Hazlewood | not out | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | ||
| Extras | (lb 7, nb 10) | 17 | |||||||
| Total | 56.4 Ov (RR: 3.74) | 212 | |||||||
| Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Usman Khawaja, 6.3 ov), 2-16 (Cameron Green, 6.6 ov), 3-46 (Marnus Labuschagne, 17.6 ov), 4-67 (Travis Head, 23.2 ov), 5-146 (Steven Smith, 41.6 ov), 6-192 (Alex Carey, 51.1 ov), 7-199 (Pat Cummins, 52.4 ov), 8-210 (Beau Webster, 54.4 ov), 9-211 (Nathan Lyon, 55.5 ov), 10-212 (Mitchell Starc, 56.4 ov) • DRS | |||||||||
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | ECON | WD | NB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kagiso Rabada | 15.4 | 5 | 51 | 5 | 3.25 | 0 | 1 | |
| Marco Jansen | 14 | 5 | 49 | 3 | 3.50 | 0 | 2 | |
| Lungi Ngidi | 8 | 0 | 45 | 0 | 5.62 | 0 | 2 | |
| Wiaan Mulder | 11 | 3 | 36 | 0 | 3.27 | 0 | 5 | |
| Keshav Maharaj | 6 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 3.16 | 0 | 0 | |
| Aiden Markram | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 2.50 | 0 | 0 |
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