(WTC) final match:South Africa close to victory
Lord’s:Hobbling captain Temba Bavuma and centurion Aiden Markram pushed South Africa to the brink of a sensational victory over Australia in a gripping World Test Championship final at Lord’s on Friday.
Bavuma, elevating the drama with a strained left hamstring, and opener Markram partnered for an unbroken 143 runs against one of Australia’s greatest bowling attacks to have South Africa 69 runs from an historic triumph.
Chasing 282 to win, the Proteas were 213-2 at stumps on day three in a stirring bid to win a first ICC trophy in 27 years.
Bavuma was 65 not out, his running restricted but not his batting technique, and Markram was 102 not out, easily the highest individual score of the final.
“This would be massive for our country,” Proteas batting coach Ashwell Prince said. “Both in terms of what we want to do in Test match cricket and what we want to achieve going forward. We’ve fallen short in some white-ball competitions with teams that have been favourites at times. History says we haven’t done it yet, so we have to knuckle down.
“Not sure how I’m going to sleep tonight. Whether I can fall into a deep sleep, I’m not sure!”
Australia had resumed the day on 144 for eight and set the Proteas what would be the second-highest Test victory chase at Lord’s – 282 – after Mitchell Starc’s unbeaten 58 had lifted his side to 207 all out.
Starc followed up his earlier heroics with the bat by removing South Africa’s first two wickets, to leave the Proteas on 70 for two in the 18th over.
Left-handed opener Ryan Rickelton was caught behind by wicketkeeper Alex Carey for six, to leave South Africa on 9-1.
Wiaan Mulder helped steady the ship, hitting five fours in his 27 and sharing in a 61-run partnership for the second wicket before gifting a simple catch to Marnus Labuschagne at cover, having helped South Africa on to 70.
The Proteas reached tea at 94-2, requiring another 188 for victory, with opener Markram unbeaten on 49 and Bavuma on 11 not out.
Markram notched a single after play resumed to bring up his half-century off 69 deliveries as the pair kept chipping away at their victory target.
Second day
When South Africa resumed batting after losing four wickets at the start of play on the second day of the Test Championship Final, their batsmen looked much more confident than on the first day.
The Proteas certainly got some hope after a solid partnership of 64 runs between captain Timba Bawuma and David Bedingham, but when captain Timba Bawuma fell to Pat Cummins for 36 runs at a total score of 94, the South African batsmen were unable to resist the Kangaroos for long and the entire team returned to the pavilion after scoring only 138 runs.
Australia captain Pat Cummins bowled a devastating spell and took 6 wickets for 28 runs, Mitchell Starc took 2 and Josh Hazlewood took one wicke
Later, Australia scored 144 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in their second innings by the end of the second game. Alex Carey was outstanding with 43 runs. South African bowler Rabada was outstanding with 3 wickets.
First Day
Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne opened the innings for Australia, but Khawaja returned to the pavilion without opening his account, while Labuschagne was dismissed for 17 runs. Cameron Green, who came in third, proved to be a guest of 4 runs and Travis Head returned to the pavilion after scoring 11 runs.
The Kangaroos’ fifth wicket fell for a total of 146 when Steve Smith returned to the pavilion after scoring 66 runs, Beau Webster 72 and Alex Carey 23 runs, while Mitchell Starc and captain Pat Cummins were dismissed for one run each and Nathan Lyon was dismissed without a score.
For South Africa, Kagiso Rabada took 5 wickets and Marco Johnson took 3 wickets, while Keshav Maharaj and Aiden Markram took one wicket each.
