Aiden Markram’s magnificent century guided South Africa to a five-wicket win over Australia in the World Test Championship final at Lord’s late yesterday as the Proteas finally ended their decades-long wait for a major global cricket trophy.
South Africa, set 282 to win, finished on 282-5 before lunch on the fourth day, with opening batsman Markram out for 136 when his side were just six runs shy of victory.
Markram has been dropped twice by South Africa in his test career.
Photo: AFP
Markram set such a superlative standard out of the gate — three centuries and two 90s in his first six months — that when the runs stopped raining, he was labeled a flash in the pan.
South Africa’s white-ball captain was eventually recalled to the red-ball side by new coach Shukri Conrad at the start of 2023 and responded with his first century in two years against the West Indies and 106 against India in Cape Town, South Africa, to end that year.
Markram then went 16 innings and counting without a hundred, including a duck when he chopped on against Australia pacer Mitchell Starc on Wednesday, the opening day of the World Test Championship final at Lord’s.
On Friday, South Africa needed someone to hang tough and score big when it started a daunting chase of 282 to win the final, and Markram responded on a flat, slow pitch with an unbeaten 102. He and captain Temba Bavuma, who nursed a hamstring injury to be on 65, produced an unbroken stand of 143.
Markram teared up when he reached his eighth test hundred in the day’s second-to-last over. His celebrations were muted, knowing the job was not quite done. He and Bavuma have South Africa 69 runs from a momentous win.
“We certainly know he is someone for the big occasion, of that there is no doubt,” South Africa batting coach Ashwell Prince said. “He has done some technical work, but not a lot. In the last little while he has had a tendency to push his hands away from his body and cut across the ball but it was not a big fix and as soon as he saw a few videos, it was simple.”
“Albeit in a losing cause at Newlands, on a difficult pitch, he played an unbelievable innings against India last year and scored a ton on that surface — so we know what he is capable of,” Prince said.
Despite the first-innings duck, Markram remained confident in his technique after scoring five fifties in 13 innings at the Indian Premier League. They were not in the same format, but they put him in a good headspace for the WTC final.
He is in the running for the player of the final. When Bavuma turned to Markram’s part-time off-spin — three wickets in 45 previous tests — he had an outsized impact on the match.
In the first innings, he bagged Steve Smith and broke Australia’s biggest partnership, and in the second innings he ended Australia’s seemingly never-ending batting by dismissing last man Josh Hazlewood.
Moments later, he had his own bat in hand to open South Africa’s chase to win the championship.
Taiwan’s top women’s badminton doubles duo, Hsieh Pei-shan (謝沛珊) and Hung En-tzu (洪恩慈), achieved a straight-sets victory over Japan’s Kaho Osawa and Mayui Tanabe at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 300 Macau Open on Sunday. The Taiwanese pair won the final 21-18, 21-12, marking the duo’s second title this year after their win at the BWF Super 300 Taipei Open in May. The match on Sunday was their first encounter with the Japanese duo, ranked No. 63 in the world. Hsieh and Hung, ranked No. 12, began the opening game well. Hung, who plays left-handed, performed strongly at both the net and the
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko upset top-seeded Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday night to reach the National Bank Open quarter-finals. “Your support was incredible,” Mboko told the crowd in French after a chorus of “Ole, Ole, Ole” chants echoed around the venue. “I’m really happy to win today ... It’s incredible. I’m so happy to beat such a great champion.” Gauff dropped to 2-3 since winning the French Open. She followed the major victory with opening losses in Berlin and Wimbledon, then overcame double-fault problems to win two three-set matches in Montreal. Gauff had five double-faults on Saturday after having 23 in
Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen on Thursday said that he is staying with the Red Bull team next year, ending months of speculation over his future. “Some people just like to stir the pot, some people just like to create drama, but, for me, it’s always been quite clear, and also for next year,” the four-time champion said ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. “I’m discussing with the team already the plans — the things that we want to change for next year, so that means that I’m also staying with the team for next year,” he said. Verstappen has a contract with
Alex Michelsen on Thursday rallied for a 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 upset victory over third-seeded Lorenzo Musetti in the men’s singles, converting his seventh match point to reach the fourth round of the Canadian Open. Michelsen reached the last 16 of a Masters 1000 for the first time with his second win over a top-10 player in eight attempts. The 20-year-old American survived nearly 50 unforced errors and converted just two of nine break chances, but it was enough to vanquish Italy’s Musetti, a two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist ranked 10th in the world. “It feels really good,” the 26th-ranked Michelsen said. “I’ve put