History made at Lord’s as South Africa triumph in WTC25 Final

Aiden Markram’s magnificent century guided South Africa to a five-wicket win over Australia in the World Test Championship final at Lord’s on Saturday as the Proteas finally ended their decades-long wait for a major global cricket trophy.

South Africa, set 282 to win, finished on 282-5 before lunch on the fourth day, with opening batsman Markram out for 136 when his side were just six runs shy of victory.

In 18 previous attempts in the one-day international and T20 World Cups, South Africa had only reached one solitary final.

That was in last year’s T20 World Cup in Barbados, when they lost to India despite needing just 30 runs from their last 30 balls, with six wickets standing.

But they held their nerve on Saturday as they resumed on 213-2, with Markram having reached three figures on Friday.

Brief scores

• Australia 1st innings 212 (B Webster 72, S Smith 66; K Rabada 5-51, M Jansen 3-49)
• South Africa 1st innings 138 (D Bedingham 45; P Cummins 6-28)
• Australia 2nd Innings 207 (M Starc 58 no; K Rabada 4-59, L Ngidi 3-38)
• South Africa 2nd Innings 282-5 (A Markram 136, T Bavuma 66; M Starc 3-66)

Result: South Africa won by five wickets