On Saturday (June 14), South Africa, under Temba Bavuma’s captaincy, achieved a historic 5-wicket victory in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 final against Australia.
The fourth day of the grand finale at the Lord’s cricket stadium saw the Proteas end their 27-year ICC title drought.
Opting to bowl first, Kagiso Rabada led the pace bowling attack from the front by claiming a 5-fer and 4 wickets in both innings individually. Still, South Africa made a few blunders during fielding that allowed the Aussie tailender Mitchell Starc to score a 50+ run knock for Australia after his catches were dropped a couple of times.
Moreover, a 10th wicket partnership of 59 runs with Josh Hazlewood enhanced the chances of the Pat Cummins-led team to defend their title after setting a 282-run target against their opponents.
At one stage, South Africans once again seemed to succumb to the chokers’ label, which has haunted them for nearly three decades. But, Kudos to the Proteas opener Aiden Markram and captain Temba Bavuma, who held their nerves to chase down a mammoth target in the last innings.
Let’s take a look at the six main turning points of the match that contributed to South Africa’s victory in the WTC 2025 final, which helped them lift their first ICC trophy after 27 years.
1. First Bowling After Winning the Toss:
On a bowling-friendly pitch at the Lord’s cricket stadium, South African skipper Temba Bavuma showed his brilliance by inviting the Aussies to bat first. This strategy helped his team’s batting line-up score runs conveniently despite the pressure mounting in a high-pressure run chase during the fourth innings.
2. Rabada’s Lethal Pace Bowling Attack
Kagiso Rabada ripped apart Australia’s batting line-up in the first innings by taking a 5-wicket haul. Despite the half-centuries from Steve Smith and Beau Webster, the previous edition’s champions concluded their innings to a mere total of 212.
As a result, the 30-year-old’s bowling figures of 5/51 in 15.4 overs achieved an exceptional record of becoming South Africa’s leading test wicket taker at Lord’s. Likewise, Rabada claimed 4 wickets that restricted Australia’s 2nd innings total to 207 and recorded a noteworthy bowling figure of 4/59 in 18 overs, which includes a maiden over as well.
Notably, the supportive contributions from other Proteas pacers, namely Marco Jansen (3/49 in 14 overs) and Lungi Ngidi (3/38 in 13 overs) in the first and second innings separately, helped South Africa bolster their pace bowling attack.
3. Bavuma and Bedingham’s 64-Run Partnership in South Africa’s 1st Innings
In contrast to a strong bowling performance on Day 1, the South African batters surrendered to the Aussie Captain Pat Cummins’s 6-fer. The leading wicket-taker of the WTC 2023-25 single-handedly destroyed the Proteas batting line-up.
Temba Bavuma (36 runs) and David Bedingham (45 runs) maintained a steady partnership of 64 runs to rebuild their team’s innings. Still, South Africa’s innings was bundled out to 138, and they were left trailing only by 74 runs.
4. Bavuma’s Catch Dropped in 20th Over of Last Innings
In the 2nd ball of the 20th over bowled by Mitchell Starc, the wide slip fielder Steve Smith dropped Temba Bavuma’s catch when he was on 2 runs. Despite the mistimed reverse cup shot, the South African captain rode on his luck by escaping from a quick dismissal.
As a result, Bavuma played an anchoring knock of 66 runs from 134 balls (4s: 5, 6s: 0, strike rate: 49.25) that helped South Africa stay alive in a tricky run chase.
5. Bavuma and Markram 147-Run Partnership in Run Chase
Following the quick fall of wickets of Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder, South Africa were left stranded at 70/2 in 17.4 overs.
However, Bavuma stepped into the action by not only playing a captain’s knock, but also paired up with the opening batsman Aiden Markram to maintain a solid partnership of 147 runs from 250 balls.
By the end of Day 3 (June 13), South Africa required just 69 runs to achieve a sensational victory with 8 wickets remaining and two more days to spare.
Although the South African skipper was dismissed on the subsequent day by Pat Cummins, his task was almost done as his team required only 65 runs to accomplish the winning target.
6. Aiden Markram’s Century in 282-Run Chase
Aiden Markram deserved the Player of the Match award for scoring one of the most memorable centuries in his test career, which contributed to a winning cause for South Africa.
The 30-year-old was the top run scorer of the WTC 2025 final, who played a magnificent knock of 136 runs from 207 balls (4s: 14, 6s: 0, strike rate: 65.70)
Even though Hazlewood dismissed Markram in the 81st over, it was too late for the Aussies as the Proteas opener had done enough damage by assaulting against the formidable bowling attack of the former champions. After his dismissal, South Africa was just 6 runs away from victory and had 5 wickets in hand with one more day to spare.
Finally, Kyle Verreynne struck the winning runs for his team by grabbing a single in the 84th over. And then the celebrations began not only in South Africa’s dressing room but also across the Rainbow Nation as well.
Final Thoughts
Previously, South Africa won their maiden ICC trophy in the inaugural edition of the Champions Trophy in 1998. Since then, the Proteas managed to qualify for the knockouts in most of their ICC tournaments, but ended up facing elimination each time.
Although Rabada’s fierce bowling performance tamed the Australian batting line-up, South African batters deserve credit for exhibiting a solid batting performance.
Particularly, Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma have tackled the perfect lengths and bounces of Australian pacers Cummins and Hazlewood. The duo batters’ contributions were mainly one of the biggest reasons that helped South Africa to prove the world that they are no longer ‘The Chokers’.
Ultimately, Bavuma’s name will be etched as one of the most successful captains in the history of cricket as he finally broke South Africa’s several years of ICC trophy curse.
