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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa congratulated Proteas as they clinched their maiden ICC World Test Championship (WTC) title, defeating Australia by five wickets at Lord's on Saturday.
Ramaphosa posted on his X handle, "Congratulations to the Proteas, the ICC Test Champions. We are proud of Captain Themba Bavuma for leading from the front. A victory for you and for the nation." https://x.com/CyrilRamaphosa/status/1933855711366181165 With this victory, South Africa has laid their hands on their first-ever world title in international cricket. Also, this is their second ICC trophy after the ICC Knockout 1998. Also, Australia skipper Pat Cummins' golden run as a captain, which started with the retention of the Ashes series against England and was followed by an incredible WTC mace and 50-over World Cup wins over India, has come to a halt. Aiden Markram slammed a memorable century, and captain Temba Bavuma fought through injury to score a combined 102 runs in the match, as SA chased down a daunting target of 282 on Day 4. Kagiso Rabada starred with the ball, taking nine wickets in the match. South Africa started the day four at 213/2, with the skipper Bavuma (66*) and Markram (102*), needing 69 more runs to win. Skipper Pat Cummins struck for Australia in the third over of the session, removing Bavuma for 66 in 134 balls, with five fours. SA was 217/3, needing 65 runs to win. Tristan Stubbs was next up on the crease. While Markram collected two boundaries against Cummins, the Proteas played it safe, defending well and rotating strike well. However, after drinks break, Mitchell Starc cleaned up Stubbs for just eight runs. South Africa was 241/4, still 41 runs away from the target. David Bedingham joined Markram on the field, who was knocking the ball around safely for singles and doubles. Proteas reached the 250-run mark in 74 overs. Bedingham and Markram continued to eat into the deficit with each passing over, with a classy on-drive from Bedingham pushing the target below 20 runs. A fine boundary through mid-wicket from Markram helped the deficit reach just 10 runs. Markram's Lord's masterpiece, however, came to an end, with a fine catch from Head, scoring 136 in 207 balls, with 14 fours. The fifth wicket was down, and six runs were left. Kyle Verreyne hit the winning runs for SA. Starc took three wickets for Australia, but it was of no use. Brief Scores: Australia: 212 and 207 (Mitchell Starc 58*, Alex Carey 43, Kagiso Rabada 4/59) against SA: 138 and 282/5 (Aiden Markram 136, Temba Bavuma 65*, Mitchell Starc 3/63). (ANI)
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