South Africa Finish 27-Yr Lengthy ICC Trophy Drought, Outclass Australia To Win Maiden WTC Title

South Africa ended a 27-year-long look ahead to an ICC trophy as they defeated defending champions Australia by 5 wickets to win the World Check Championship (WTC) 2025 title at Lord’s on Saturday, June 14. That is the maiden WTC title and second ICC trophy for South Africa. Their final ICC title got here in 1998 when South Africa gained the inaugural version of the Champions Trophy.

The Temba Bavuma-led South Africa grew to become the third workforce after New Zealand (2021) and Australia (2023) to win the World Check Championship (WTC) title.

Beginning the Day 4 at 213/2, there have been two different hiccups for South Africa on the fourth morning, with skipper Temba Bavuma (66) getting out to Australian counterpart Pat Cummins (1/59) within the third over of the day because the Aussies sniffed a possible lifeline after which Mitchell Starc (3/66) pierced the defences of Tristan Stubbs (8) when 41 runs have been nonetheless required.

Regardless of shedding the wickets of Bavuma and Stubbs, Markram stayed composed and waited for the dangerous ball to dispatch and made batting look comparatively simple as South Africa inched in the direction of the victory goal. 

Markram fell late in proceedings with simply six runs required for South Africa’s victory. He soaked up the ambiance and obtained a standing ovation from the appreciative Lord’s crowd. His innings of 136 proved the distinction between two sides in a Check the place ball dominated bat for almost all of the competition. 

Finally, Kyle Verreynne hit the successful shot to ship South Africa their first males’s senior ICC trophy since 1998. 

Whereas Markram will win loads of plaudits for his match-winning innings and deservedly so, South Africa obtained a powerful vary of contributions from their complete XI and tempo spearhead Kagiso Rabada additionally performed a significant position within the triumph along with his 9 wickets throughout the 2 innings.

Notably, each Markram and Rabada performed collectively when South Africa gained the ICC Males’s Underneath 19 Cricket World Cup in 2014 and this victory is simply rewards for the pair and a South African workforce which have had so many shut misses within the knockout levels of ICC occasions in current occasions.

South Africa XI: 1. Aiden Markram, 2. Ryan Rickelton, 3. Wiaan Mulder, 4. Temba Bavuma (c), 5. Tristan Stubbs, 6. David Bedingham, 7. Kyle Verreynne (wk), 8. Marco Jansen, 9. Keshav Maharaj, 10. Kagiso Rabada, 11. Lungi Ngidi 

Australia XI: 1. Usman Khawaja, 2. Marnus Labuschagne, 3. Cameron Inexperienced, 4. Steve Smith, 5. Travis Head, 6. Beau Webster, 7. Alex Carey (wk), 8. Pat Cummins (c), 9. Mitchell Starc, 10. Nathan Lyon, 11. Josh Hazlewood