South Africa beat Australia by five wickets in the World Test Championship final to end their long wait for a major global title. After 27 years of waiting, South Africa has finally done it. Two quarter-finals, 12 semi-finals, and one final later, they have finally achieved it. They have been crowned the champions of an ICC tournament. Tears flowed through the eyes of South African players as Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma ended the country’s ICC trophy dream on Saturday, June 14, against the mighty Australians. South Africa scripted an epic comeback in the World Test Championship Final, chasing a record target in the summit clash against the defending champions.
The writing was on the wall from the second session of Day 3, when Markram and Bavuma put together a defiant stand on the Lord’s pitch, which had claimed 28 wickets in the first two days of the game. The duo showed exceptional grit and hunger, ticking off one run at a time against the massive target of 282 runs. Markram and Bavuma started solidly, but it was once again the talismanic Pat Cummins who broke through.
In the third over of Day 4, Cummins bowled a terrific delivery that kissed the edge of Bavuma’s bat and went straight into the hands of the wicketkeeper. Tristan Stubbs (8 off 43) added resistance alongside Markram, but was dismissed by a ripper of a delivery from Mitchell Starc. However, Markram, unbeaten on 102 overnight, ensured that he brought South Africa home, handing them their first ICC title in 27 years. South African players ran onto the hallowed Lord’s turf to embrace Kyle Verreynne, who hit the winning runs.
South Africa came into the final with baggage bigger than any team in the history of world cricket. Defeated in the knockout stage in 15 ICC tournaments, despite reaching the quarter-finals and the semi-finals consistently in most competitions, it was a moment in the sun for South Africa, a proud cricketing nation. The moment was perhaps made more significant as South Africa’s first Black Test captain guided the team to an ICC title, 10 years after the ‘quota problem’ haunted them in the 2015 ODI World Cup.
Since 2004, a target this big had not been chased down by any team in red-ball cricket. However, the stars seemed to be aligned when the wicket flattened out under the sun on Day 3, with Markram and Bavuma waging their fight in the second session of the match. Bavuma, dropped at 2 by Steve Smith, braved the Australian fast bowlers and a hamstring injury to take South Africa to the cusp of history. Bavuma, alongside Markram, added 143 runs for the 3rd wicket, getting South Africa within 69 runs of the target.
As fans cheered on the South African players in anticipation of their historic win, former player and legend of the game, Dale Steyn, remained cautious. Steyn said that South Africa had to score the hardest 69 runs of their lives to win the WTC Final.
To Australia’s credit, they stayed in the game for nearly 30 overs on Day 4, despite defending 69 runs. But their poor strategising on Day 3 came back to haunt them. This was also Pat Cummins’ first loss in an ICC tournament final as the captain of the Australian side. South Africa’s run chase was the joint second-highest in Test cricket at the ground, bettered only by West Indies’ pursuit of 342 in 1984. They are the third team to be crowned World Test champions after New Zealand (2021) and Australia (2023).
