Aiden Markram helps South Africa beat Australia in World Test Championship final
Aiden Markram's century led South Africa to an emotional five-wicket victory over Australia in the World Test Championship final.
Set 282 to win, 70 more than had been scored in any of the first three innings at Lord's, Markram and captain Temba Bavuma put on 147 to break the back of the chase.
Bavuma fell early on Saturday morning for 66 and, though Markram was dismissed six runs short of the victory target, his 136 was the crucial innings and allowed David Bedingham and Kyle Verreynne to finish the job.
It ends a series of agonising near misses for the five-time World Cup semi-finalists and 2024 T20 World Cup runners-up and marks the Proteas' first global trophy since 1998, when they won the Wills International Cup – the precursor to the Champions Trophy – and the Commonwealth Games.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Rahul digs in as India build lead over England
LEEDS, England, June 23 (Reuters) - Opener KL Rahul's classy half-century helped India extend their lead over England to 159 runs as they reached lunch at 153-3 on day four of the first test at Headlingley on Monday. Resuming on 90-2, with a lead of 96, India captain Shubman Gill, who made his highest test score in the first innings, chopped onto his stumps to fall for eight, a second wicket for Brydon Carse. England continued to create chances. Rahul was dropped by Harry Brook on 58 after reaching his 18th test half century and Rishabh Pant survived a DRS review for lbw. The pair played cautiously but kept the scoreboard ticking with Rahul unbeaten on 72 at the interval and Pant on 31.
Telegraph
4 hours ago
- Telegraph
Live England vs India, first Test: Score and latest updates from day four
10:38AM Listen: Sir Geoffrey Boycott's preview 10:38AM Thoran agogo Greetings from Headingley, where the sun is trying to poke through, but the heatwave is over. The weather generally is chillier, cloudier, and windier than the last week, and there was a decent dump of rain overnight. It means a first run-out for the sweater I packed for the trip. England won't mind that as they look to take eight Indian wickets sharpish. Pleasant evening for Team Telegraph last night, having some Keralan cuisine at Uyare, the new sister restaurant of Tharavadu, which has been a favourite of ours for years. Comes highly recommended! It was a bit quieter walking into the ground this morning. The first three days were sold out but the working week and the Bazballers are not good for day four ticket sales. Expecting to be around two-thirds full, but maybe we will get a few walk-ups. 10:33AM Good day to bowl Welcome to Leeds on a much cooler and cloudier morning , the stifling heat of the first two days a thing of the past. Good bowling day in other words, and plenty in the pitch for a spinner too by way of turn and uneven bounce. A draw very unlikely if no rain. 10:29AM Day four: What can England chase? Good morning and welcome to day four of the first Test between England and India which begins with the touring side 96 runs ahead with their captain, Shubman Gill, and most experienced top-order batsman, KL Rahul, at the crease with eight wickets left. After another sensational day of cricket in Leeds, truly the greatest ground for drama and knife-edge Tests, England cannily fought their way to near parity with some jaw-dropping counter-attacking and clever, relentless strike rotation. Those who see 'Bazball' as purely slogging ought to watch Chris Woakes' innings from yesterday. Shoaib Bashir has a vital role to play today. The cracks that caused three deliveries to take off alarmingly and fly for four byes on Sunday are too far outside the right-handers' off-stump to be used effectively but there was turn for Ravindra Jadeja and there ought to be plenty of rough on both sides given how many overs were bowled round the wicket on days one, two and three. Of course, on the principle of what's good for the goose Jadeja himself could make hay tomorrow from one end to back up the incomparable Jasprit Bumrah and given how poorly England have played spin on turning tracks on their last visits to Pakistan and India, their confidence in chasing 300 ought to be tempered. This side have shifted the historical parameters of possibility in fourth-innings chases over the past three years but there's no Jonny Bairstow here and Ben Stokes, back to bowling near his best, continues to look badly out of nick with the bat, as if he's over-thinking his approach. India are marginally favourites, 11/10 compared with England's 13/10 but it's a breezy, cloudy, cool day in Leeds and while the rain has stopped there were showers earlier this morning. Ideal conditions to bowl seam up.
The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
Inside the mind of Ben Stokes – and a defining year for the England captain's cricketing legacy
England's former strength and conditioning coach, Phil Scott, puts it best. 'I know you need to hurt yourself,' Scott said of Ben Stokes. 'How hard he trains,' Scott continues. 'It's a bit scary for people to watch. Because it's like: 'OK, is he going to hurt himself?' Not many people can push themselves to the extreme. But some people can take themselves to dark places.' Stokes has just returned from his latest dark place. A second major hamstring injury, which itself came off the back of a long-running serious knee issue, means for years we've been deprived of Ben Stokes at his best. Or at least at his fittest. Scott's words came during filming for the Ben Stokes documentary on Amazon, Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes. Released in 2022, it also includes this from Joe Root. 'When it gets hard, you don't need to turn to him. He comes to you,' Root said. 'And I think that's probably the hardest thing for him to manage as well.' Spoken in 2022, but as relevant in 2025 as ever. Here at Headingley, in just his second match since his six-month lay-off, on day one of a legacy-defining 10 Test matches against India, then Australia, he got the ball in his hand and didn't let go. 'I ain't holding back,' was Stokes' own reply in December when asked if, after yet another injury, he'd consider lightening his bowling loads to protect his body. And he was true to his word. A six-over spell was followed by a seven. Across a day where only three wickets fell as bat dominated ball, Stokes accounted for two of them. At the end of the innings, he had taken four wickets and bowled 20 overs. He was England's best bowler. So why should anyone else have a go? The return of Stokes' bowling has sparked memories of him being back to his best with the ball in hand. A 12 month period that ran from 2019 to 2020. Arguably, the peak was his match-winning spell in front of a raucous crowd at Cape Town, where a triple strike late on day five single-handedly won England a match that had seemed destined for a draw. Three wickets, in the space of three Stokes overs. A number of England players rank it as one of their favourite ever victories for a reason, including Stokes himself. 'It's great to be able to go back and look at footage from where you felt like you were in a really, really good rhythm,' Stokes said ahead of this match against India. 'I actually used Cape Town as a visual thing for me to look back at and go, 'what was I doing there?' Because that felt really good.' 'Ben lives in moments,' explains former England bowler and Durham teammate of Stokes, Steve Harmison, to The Independent. 'This team is Ben. It represents Ben. And it's why they're so exciting to watch.' Harmison, now 46, has known Stokes since he was a kid at Durham's academy. First hearing the rumours of an uber-talented 14-year-old who was coming through the ranks, before being on the pitch with him as he made his professional debut against Surrey as a 17-year-old. 'It was a whirlwind,' recalls Harmison. 'He got Mark Ramprakash clean bowled with one of his first deliveries in first-team cricket.' Stokes' finest moments in an England shirt have largely come with the bat. Headingley 2019. The World Cup Final in 2019. The World Cup Final in 2022. By contrast, his lowest moment – remember the name Carlos Brathwaite – came with the ball. The final over of the 2016 T20 World Cup - and defending 19 to win, he conceded four sixes in a row. But on his showing with ball in hand so far, there is another chapter to the Stokes legacy still to be written. A healthy Stokes is a balanced England. Batting at six or seven and able to bowl a full quota of overs, allows England to field three further specialist seamers and a spinner. It is why England fans watch each Stokes delivery through gritted teeth. Please, Ben, don't break yourself. Where fans see the importance of these two series as reason for Stokes to bowl little and often; Stokes himself sees it as a need for himself to bowl more and always. And it's a mindset Harmison believes we should trust. 'I saw him at Trent Bridge against Zimbabwe,' says Harmison. 'And it's the fittest I've seen him in a number of years. I'd like to think Ben has learned the hard way about the two hamstring injuries he's got. As you get older, they become a recurrence and you get warning signs. 'So let's not worry about the body packing up on him. Let's just think we've got the all-rounder back from five years ago. And we need that all-rounder if we want to beat India and we want to beat Australia. So if he wants to bowl 20 overs, we have to trust him. Because he knows about the warning signs.' These two series won't define Stokes the individual. His legend in English cricket is already made. But it will define this English team that sits in his image. And when others need him is when Stokes turns it on more than ever. 'I speak with so much pride whenever I speak about Ben,' Harmison continues. 'I've seen the boy turn into a man, and the man go through a hell of a lot of bumps in the road. I am so proud of him as a person and as England captain. 'He was born a winner. He was brought up in an environment of a winner. His father was an unbelievable man and you can see where Ben gets it from.' For a man who lives for the moment, none come bigger than leading your country away in The Ashes. It is the natural finale of the Bazball experiment, even if Brendon McCullum is contracted to 2027 and Stokes himself has said nothing to suggest he wishes to stop. But nevertheless, the feeling is there that if Stokes was to lift that urn above his head in Sydney in January, what worlds would be left to conquer? 'I don't even think Ben knows,' Harmison says of what is next for arguably England's greatest ever cricketer. 'And that excites me. 'And equally, if England go to Australia and lose. That also shouldn't be the end of Ben Stokes. I could see a moment of what Shane Warne said, that he probably would've finished in 2005 if Australia hadn't lost and seen the England celebrations. That gave him the drive to extend his career and to build something to make sure that when they come back to us, we're going to nail it.' Across the board, the sentiment is that the 34-year-old Stokes is fitter and more responsible than ever. In order to best recover from his latest injury, he gave up alcohol and at times now concedes he understands the need for moderation across all walks of life. The time off has allowed him to rediscover his 'old' bowling action. The one from Cape Town. The one where Stokes was at his best. But he is still 34. In Greek mythology, Atlas was forced to put the world on his back for eternity. In England's reality, Stokes has been tasked to do the same. If only for one year.
