ICC World Test Championship Final 2025: South Africa Beat Australia by 5 Wickets at Lord's — Aiden Markram 136 Player of Match, South Africa's First ICC Title Since 1998, Kyle Verreynne Hits Winning Shot

South Africa won the ICC World Test Championship Final 2025 by 5 wickets against Australia at Lord's Cricket Ground, London (June 11–14, 2025) — one of cricket's most storied grounds and the traditional home of the sport, producing a historically significant result as South Africa claimed their first ICC global title since the 1998 ICC Knockout Trophy, ending a 27-year wait. The match was a tightly contested 4-day Test that required Aiden Markram's 136 in South Africa's 2nd innings chase of 282 to deliver the result. Australia qualified for the WTC Final after winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024–25 against India 3–1 (ending India's decade of BGT dominance); South Africa qualified by accumulating consistent WTC points across their home series — including their 2–0 win over Pakistan in December 2024 – January 2025. Australia batted first at Lord's and scored 212 — a moderate first-innings total that gave South Africa an achievable target from the beginning. South Africa were bowled out for 138 in their 1st innings, giving Australia a first-innings lead of 74. Australia's 2nd innings of 207 set South Africa a 4th-innings target of 282 — a substantial but chaseable total at Lord's where the pitch does not typically deteriorate as dramatically as in Asian conditions. South Africa's chase of 282 was the defining passage of the WTC Final. Aiden Markram — South Africa's versatile right-handed middle-order batter who can anchor or accelerate depending on match situation — scored 136 to guide South Africa from a position of pressure (the early wickets that fell as Australia's bowlers tried to replicate their success in their 1st bowling spell) to victory. Kyle Verreynne, South Africa's wicketkeeper-batter who had been instrumental across the WTC cycle, struck the winning runs as South Africa reached 282/5 — winning by 5 wickets. The dressing room eruption at Lord's — South Africa celebrating their first major ICC title since 1998 — was a moment of genuine historical significance for a nation that had been competitive but had not won a global ICC event for 27 years. South Africa's captain Temba Bavuma collected the WTC trophy on the Lord's balcony; Markram was named Player of the Match for his 136; and the South African squad received a prize of US$3.6 million — the highest per-team prize in the WTC competition structure.

Aiden Markram's 136: The Innings That Won the WTC Final

Aiden Markram's 136 in South Africa's 2nd innings chase of 282 at Lord's was one of the defining individual performances in the history of the ICC World Test Championship — an innings that required a combination of technical correctness, composure under pressure, and the judgment to adapt between anchoring when wickets fell and accelerating when the match situation demanded. Markram — a right-handed batter from Pretoria who had developed through South Africa's domestic system into an international batter of considerable versatility — entered with South Africa needing to navigate Australia's formidable bowling attack (Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon) on a Lord's surface that can assist swing in English conditions. The Lord's slope, which famously aids right-arm over-the-wicket bowlers by creating a sharper angle into right-handers, is a challenge that visiting batters must account for — and Markram's ability to play correctly on both sides of the wicket allowed him to build his innings systematically. When early wickets fell and South Africa needed steadiness, Markram provided it; when the match required acceleration in the later stages of the chase to prevent Australia from bowling a defensive line, Markram found the boundary shots to maintain South Africa's run rate without taking undue risks. His 136 — with the rest of the batting lineup contributing from both ends — powered South Africa to 282/5 with the match in hand. Kyle Verreynne's role in the winning partnership alongside Markram provided the second key batting contribution: Verreynne's calm presence as an experienced wicketkeeper-batter in a high-pressure chase helped Markram remain focused on his own game, and Verreynne eventually hit the winning shot that completed South Africa's 5-wicket win and WTC championship.

South Africa's WTC 2023–25 Journey: First ICC Title in 27 Years

South Africa's WTC 2023–25 Final win was the culmination of a disciplined two-year campaign across bilateral Test series that accumulated enough WTC points to qualify for the Final at Lord's. South Africa's WTC 2023–25 cycle included home series wins — including the 2–0 win over Pakistan in December 2024 – January 2025 — as well as away performances that kept them consistently in the top two of the WTC standings. Their qualification ahead of India (who had led the BGT ranking for much of the cycle) came when Australia won the BGT 2024–25 3–1, knocking India out of the Final's top-two places and elevating South Africa. South Africa's first ICC global title since 1998 closed a chapter of near-misses and final defeats across multiple ICC tournaments. In ODI World Cups, T20 World Cups, and Champions Trophy events, South Africa had been finalists and semi-finalists — often eliminated in difficult circumstances — without ever winning a major ICC event since their 1998 ICC Knockout triumph. The WTC Final victory at Lord's changed that record permanently: South Africa are now world Test champions for the first time, with a trophy that validates the quality of their Test team under captain Temba Bavuma. The result also confirmed that the WTC format — which measures performance across bilateral series over a 2-year cycle rather than a single tournament — rewards consistent excellence across all conditions, and South Africa's ability to win at home and compete abroad across multiple series proved the decisive factor in reaching and winning the Final. Australia — who had been the WTC's most dominant team with their first WTC Final win in 2021–23 cycle — were unable to defend their title, and South Africa took the championship in a closely contested match at the Home of Cricket.