South Africa claimed the Test mace after defeating Australia by five wickets in the World Test Championship final on Saturday at the iconic Lord’s cricket ground. Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma were the stars for South Africa, the former scoring 136 runs in a chase of 282 to redeem himself for a six-ball duck in the first innings. Meanwhile, Proteas captain Bavuma soldiered on despite a hamstring pull to score 66 runs in the second innings.
“Aiden and Temba didn’t give us a chance. And South Africa showed why they’re here and are deserved winners, they kept themselves in the game throughout,” Australia captain Pat Cummins admitted in the presentation ceremony after their defeat.
“Things can change quickly in cricket, but it was a bridge too far. There were a few things that we didn’t do right. We didn’t bat out the opposition after a decent first-innings lead,” lamented the Australia skipper.
Cummins added that the Proteas who started the fourth day of the WTC Final on 213/2 with Markram batting on 102 and Bavuma on 65, didn’t give them a chance in the fourth innings.
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This, despite Bavuma falling after adding just one run to this overnight total. Markram too had departed with the team within touching distance of the Test Mace. “I haven’t scored more important runs,” he later said.
Asked if there were any concerns about Australia’s top seven batters — since they had slumped to 73/7 in the second innings before (43) and Mitchell Starc (58) added some meat to their target for the bowling unit to defend — Cummins admitted: “There are concerns in the top-seven.”
He then added: “Our guys have performed well in the last two years. Bowlers did well in the first two days. We gave everything a chance, Lyon bowled particularly well but didn’t get a wicket. This is the pinnacle, I love Test cricket. Huge achievement to make the final, one-game shootout is a spectacle, didn’t end up on the right side but it’s been a great week.”
