SA vs AUS LIVE Cricket Score, WTC Final 2025 Day 3: Can South Africa chase down history at Lord's today?
WTC Final 2025 Day 3, SA vs AUS Live Cricket Score Updates: With the sun hitting down hard on Friday, will the South Africans finally have their dance in the spotlight on the third and potentially decisive day of the ICC World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord's.
Temba Bavuma and Co. will rue the bad bit of batting in the lower-order. Or perhaps it was the sheer class of Pat Cummins who stomped them from reducing the first-innings deficit beyond 74 runs. Cummins' 300th Test wicket and six-wicket haul meant that Australia had cushion for a potential collapse induced by the Proteas attack to build themselves a lead that has crossed the 200-run mark.
Only once has a 200-plus total score been chased down at the home of cricket in the fourth innings. The task has been cut out, but with ample sunshine beating down on the surface, Bavuma's men may have their little share of fortune against Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.
The genius of Pat Cummins
Pat Cummins stands out as Australia's ultimate big-game performer, consistently dominating crucial matches. He has a remarkable ability to effortlessly control the flow of a game, making it seem as if he simply "bends the ball" to his will without breaking a sweat. This apparent ease makes him unique; he strips away the mystique of fast bowling, almost making it look like anyone strong enough could just walk in and take a heap of wickets. This deceptive simplicity is what the author calls the "Cummins fallacy."
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First Post
33 minutes ago
- First Post
WTC Final triumph an opportunity for us as a nation, divided as we are, to unite: South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma
Temba Bavuma led South Africa to a five-wicket victory over Australia in the final of the ICC World Test Championship at Lord's, helping the Proteas end a 27-year wait for another global trophy. read more Captain Temba Bavuma celebrates with the rest of the South African team following their victory over Australia in the ICC World Test Championship Final at Lord's. Reuters Temba Bavuma hoped South Africa's historic victory over Australia in the ICC World Test Championship Final would 'unite a divided country' while adding that the Proteas would 'celebrate as one'. South Africa ended a 27-year wait for an ICC title on Saturday after chasing down a challenging 282-run target set by Australia, who were aiming to win back-to-back titles, with five wickets and as many sessions to spare at the iconic Lord's in London. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'It's been a special couple of days': Bavuma For a team that had endured multiple heartbreaks in global events since their readmission in November 1991, Saturday's victory at the 'Home of Cricket' will go down as the greatest in South African history. One that was primarily shapred Bavuma's inspirational leadership as well as Aiden Markram's brilliant 136 and Kagiso Rabada's nine-wicket match haul played a key role. 'It's been a special couple of days, at some points it felt like we were in South Africa. We prepared hard, we came in with a lot of belief and lot of doubters, glad we played well. Special moment for us and people back home, probably will sink in in a couple of days,' Bavuma said at the post-match presentation ceremony before receiving the Test Mace from ICC Chair Jay Shah. 'The energy was there, I think us as a team have been wanting this. We've been relentless, getting to the doorstep consistently and experienced heartache, the sun's been with us. Hopefully, this win is one of many. 'We got ourselves into the final, there were doubters on the route we took, this win squashes that. Here's an opportunity for us as a nation, divided as we are, to unite. You can be rest assured we'll celebrate as one,' Bavuma said. Bavuma heaped praise on both Rabada and Markram, who were part of the South African team that had won the 2014 ICC U-19 World Cup and had also played a key role in the victory in the WTC final. 'KG is a massive player, a couple of days ago I went to the Hall of Fame inductees, I think he'll be on there in a few years. Came into the game under controversy and did what he did. 'Aiden is unbelievable, people have questioned his place, but he has character. He played in true Aiden fashion, he and Rabada have carried the character,' Bavuma added. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Haven't scored more important runs': Markram Markram, who beat Rabada to the Player of the Match award with his eighth Test century, described his knock as the 'most important runs' of his career and thanked the Lord's crowd, a majority of whom were cheering for the Proteas, for contributing to 'one of the most special days'. 'Haven't scored more important runs. Weird how things worked out after a duck in the first innings. Need a bit of luck, spent some time in the middle and find runs, glad things worked out. Reception will stick out. Lord's is the place every Test cricketer wants to play. To play a final here is incredibly special. Plenty of SA fans who've made through, plenty at home too, it's one of the most special days,' said the South African white-ball captain, who bounced back in style after falling for a duck on the opening day. Markram also praised his skipper for braving through a hamstring injury to build a crucial third-wicket partnership worth 147 that proved crucial in shaping the eventual outcome of the match. 'To be honest, a lot of it came from him. He's led us from the front for the last two-three years. He didn't want to walk off the field yesterday, found a way to score really important runs, played an innings lot of people will remember,' added the 30-year-old all-rounder, who chipped in with a couple of wickets. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
SA crowned WTC champions, chokers' tag cast off
London: Chokers no more! Perennial stumblers at business ends of global competitions – indeed a victim of stage fright as recently as in the ultimate stage of last year's T20 World Cup against India – South Africa laid to rest 33 years of an unenviable syndrome of so near yet so far. Indeed, they did so by winning cricket's greatest and most prestigious prize – the ICC World Test Championship in the 2023-25 cycle. They defeated the forever formidable Australia by five wickets at the game's centre-stage, the Lord's Cricket Ground. Their supporters sang and danced in joy. South Africa were banned from international cricket when they were probably at their peak in the early 1970s and the Pollock brothers, Graeme and Peter, among others, were at their prime. Their government's Apartheid policy triggered this sanction by the international community. Welcomed back to the fold the previous year, at the 1992 Cricket World Cup in Australia, democratic and multiracial South Africa promised much, only to disappoint. They have now come of age. It was their 'India 1983 moment', and the trophy was at the highest and most exacting strata of the game – Test cricket. The architect of the historic success was unequivocally opener Aiden Markram, who's immaculately judged 136 decisively took the contest away from Australia. He left the field crestfallen though, having narrowly failed to carry his bat. South Africa were a mere six runs away from their target when he flicked Josh Hazelwood off the hips into the hands of midwicket. South Africa's batting coach, Ashley Prince, said, 'We certainly know he is someone for the big occasion.' He revealed 'He (Markram) has done some technical work but not a lot.' A year and a half ago, he pegged a hundred versus India on a difficult Cape Town pitch, albeit in a losing cause. This time his innings contributed to victory. He could not have chosen a more opportune occasion. Bavuma on top The inexorable rise of Temba Bavuma, the first black cricketer to captain South Africa, is reflected in a batting average of over 50 every year in the past five years, bar 2022. Hobbling as he ran between wickets due to a hamstring injury, he was unbeaten on 65 overnight. On resumption on Saturday, Bavuma added just one run before a leg-cutter from Pat Cummins, bowling from the side of the ground that houses a spaceship-like media centre, with the help of the legendary slope at Lord's that slides from north to south, clipped his outside edge on way to wicket-keeper Alex Carey. Low scoring in the first two days of the Test was as much a result of technical inadequacies of the batters as sharp movement off the seam. But with the skies clearing and the wicket easing on the third day, the tenth wicket for Australia notably realised 59 runs. Mitchell Starc, better known for being a left-arm pace merchant, starred with an unbeaten 58. Thereafter, Markram and Bavuma made hay as the sun shone, eventually posting a match-winning partnership of 147 runs before they were separated. The fourth, and what turned out to be the final day of the match, too dawned bright after a light shower overnight. Lord's was characteristically resplendent and the attendance robust, despite only a session's play being in prospect. Overnight, South Africa needed 69 runs with eight wickets in hand, to accomplish a significant cricketing triumph. The Australian fast bowlers typically probed away metronomically till the end but to no avail on a track no longer conspiring with them. The World Test Championship, first mooted by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, has inserted a meaning to Tests. It has excitingly thrown up different champions in the three cycles staged so far. Notwithstanding the invincibility of Australia and West Indies in the past, they were still only recognised as unofficial world champions. However, deficiencies remain in the conduct of the championship. There's been a distinct half-heartedness about staging the competition compared to ICC's enthusiasm for shorter formats. Better marketing, more prize money and a promotion and relegation process are necessary to capture people's imagination. A purse of $3.6 million to win the WTC final, compared to $4 million for the Cricket World Cup, testifies to the anomaly. Besides, a tournament where India and Pakistan don't meet is incomplete. This needs to be incorporated in the itinerary even if such a series is held at a neutral venue. As the crow flies, it's about 10 miles from Lord's to the Beckenham Cricket Club where the touring Indians are warming up in a face-off with India A 'behind closed doors'. This is understandable in the context of the visitors wanting to keep their strengths and weaknesses, not to mention tactical thinking, close to their chests. They will adorn themselves with unattained glory if they capture the WTC crown in the 2025-27 cycle, which they are about to embark on.
India Today
an hour ago
- India Today
WTC: Serial-winners Australia succumb to first defeat in ICC finals after 15 years
Australia tasted defeat in an International Cricket Council (ICC) final after 15 years as South Africa took the win by 5 wickets to win the World Test Championship (WTC) at Lord's on Saturday, June 14. Statistically, the most successful side across all formats in the men's division, Australia, were always considered to be the favourites when it came to the big occasions. The men's team have amassed 10 major honours in ICC events, including six ODI World Cup titles, two Champions' Trophy titles, and one World Test Championship and T20 World Cup title it wasn't meant to be for the Baggy Greens as the Temba Bavuma-led side put up one of their finest performances in South African cricket's history to win their first major honour in the longest format. Having contested in 14 finals in ICC tournaments, Australia have only ended up on the losing side on four occasions, including the WTC Final, SA vs AUS: As it Happened The first was the ODI World Cup in 1975, their first major final, where the West Indies beat them by 17 runs at Lord' next loss came 21 years later, in the 1996 ODI World Cup final, where Sri Lanka put up a dominant batting effort to beat Australia by 7 wickets and 22 balls to spare in Lahore.14 years later, their most recent defeat in an ICC tournament final was against England in the 2010 T20 World Cup, where Australia suffered a 7-wicket loss at Bridgetown, Africa is the latest entry to a rare list of teams to overcome the mighty Australian side. Despite Australia's captain, Pat Cummins taking a six-wicket haul in the first innings to bundle the Proteas out for 138 in the first innings, they made up in the final innings where Aiden Markram's 136 supported by Temba Bavuma's 66 steadied the ship and led them to their first major honour since will be a rare sight for Cummins as well. Since taking up the leadership role for Australia, his side had previously made it to two finals, where they beat India for the WTC title for the 2021-2023 cycle, followed by the 2023 ODI World Cup as will be a lot to ponder for this Australian side, and it remains to be seen whether they will continue to persist with the current combinations or whether this defeat will be the start of a new era, with new faces being brought into the Test InMust Watch
