The Proteas won their second ICC title by defeating Australia in the WTC Final.
South Africa batting coach Ashwell Prince opened up on how a minimal change in technique helped Aiden Markram to notch up a sublime ton against Australia in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC 2025 Final) at the Lord’s Stadium. Notably, this was his third century in a fourth innings of a Test match.
The Proteas batting coach hailed Markram as the player “for the big occasion.” The coach went on to reveal a small work that he did on his batting to improve his technique. Prince noticed a recent knack of the 30-year-old to push away his hands from the body and fixed that prior to the ultimate red-ball summit clash.
“We certainly know that he’s someone for the big occasion. There’s no doubt. He’s done a little bit of technical work, not a lot. I think in the last little while he’s just had a little tendency of his hands sort of pushing away from his body, cutting across the wall sometimes. As soon as he saw a few videos of himself doing that, it was quite a simple fix,” he said at the press conference after stumps on Day 3.
Notably, Markram was dismissed for a six-ball-duck by Mitchell Starc in the second innings. He made a stunning comeback in the final innings and battled the pressure well to notch up a remarkable 102* off 157 deliveries on Day 3.
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The Proteas clinched the mace by defeating the defending champions Australia at the home of cricket. After winning the toss and electing to field first, they started the summit clash brilliantly. A terrific five-wicket haul from their ace pacer Kagiso Rabada, alongside three important scalps from Marco Jansen, bundled out the Aussies for 212 runs.
However, Temba Bavuma and Co. could not capitalise on the low total in the second innings. A six-wicket haul from the Aussie skipper Pat Cummins thrashed their batting order for just 138 runs. The Proteas pacers once again put on a good show with the ball but a strong partnership between the tail-enders, Starc (58) and Josh Hazlewood (17), took their lead to a comprehensive 281. Rabada claimed another four-fer alongside a three-wicket haul from Lungi Ngidi, as Australia finished on 207.
But SA captain Bavuma and Markram stitched a much-needed partnership of 143 runs after two early wickets in the innings. Eventually, they ended up with 66 and 136, respectively, to guide their nation towards the ICC silverware. This is the first-ever ICC title for the Proteas since winning the Champions Trophy in 1998 under the leadership of Hansie Cronje.
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