South Africa have broken a 27-year drought by claiming an emphatic five-wicket victory over Australia in the ICC World Test Championship Final at Lord’s on Saturday.
The Proteas made reasonably light work of the 69 runs they needed to win the mace on the fourth morning in London, with Kyle Verreynne hitting the winning shot to deliver South Africa their first men’s senior ICC trophy since 1998.
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Player of the Match Aiden Markram fell late in proceedings with just six runs required, with his innings of 136 proving the difference between two sides in a Test where ball dominated bat for the majority of the contest.
There were only two other hiccups for South Africa on the fourth morning, with skipper Temba Bavuma (66) removed by Australian counterpart Pat Cummins (1/59) in the third over of the day as the Aussies sniffed a potential lifeline and then Mitchell Starc (3/66) pierced the defences of Tristan Stubbs (8) when 41 runs were still required.
But just like he had done on a crucial third day, Markram stayed composed and waited for the bad ball to dispatch and made batting look relatively easy as South Africa inched towards the victory target.
His demeanour didn’t change when Bavuma and Stubbs departed and his dismissal to Josh Hazlewood (1/58) with the finish line in sight only allowed the opener to soak up the atmosphere and receive a standing ovation from the appreciative Lord’s crowd.
While Markram will win plenty of plaudits for his match-winning innings and deservedly so, South Africa received a strong range of contributions from their entire XI and pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada also played a vital role in the triumph with his nine wickets across the two innings.
Both Markram and Rabada played together when South Africa won the ICC Men’s Under 19 Cricket World Cup in 2014 and this victory is just rewards for the pair and a South African team that have had so many close misses in the knockout stages of ICC events in recent times.
Just last year South Africa fell agonizingly short with victory in sight in the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup against India and there were some nervy moments at Lord’s as the Aussies made a couple of important breakthroughs on Saturday as the target of 282 was slowly diminished.
Australia’s experienced bowling attack was in excellent form for the entire match and it took the innings of Markram’s lifetime to quell them as South Africa broke their lengthy trophy drought in style in the Ultimate Test.
