The South Africa National Cricket Team finally broke their nearly three-decade-long wait for the ICC title. After thrashing the mighty Australians by five wickets in the final, South Africa finally won their first-ever ICC World Test Championship (WTC) title at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground on June 14.
Kagiso Rabada, Aiden Markram, and captain Temba Bavuma were the heroes behind the Proteas being able to lay their hands on an ICC trophy for the first time in 27 years. Notably, they had last won the ICC trophy in the inaugural edition of the Champions Trophy way back in 1998.
South Africa crush Australia by 5 wickets to lift historic WTC title at Lord’s
South Africa has a history of near misses in World Cups and came into the WTC Final 2025 with the “chokers” tag, but this time Temba Bavuma and his team did the unimaginable, at least for the Kangaroos, who were the defending champions.
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After the Proteas side scripted history at Lord’s, wishes poured in from across the world for the new WTC champions on social media. AB de Villiers was there at the stands to cheer for the young national team, and he was emotional after witnessing the team break the ICC title curse.
Here’s how fans celebrate South Africa’s WTC title triumph on X:
Lord Bavuma 🙇♂️
It’s time for Africa 🫡 pic.twitter.com/mKTBEiK4Ex— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) June 14, 2025
Winning an ICC title after 27 years and that too against the Australia is just WOW #WTCFinal #WtcFinal2025 South Africa 🫡🫡🫡
— विशाल शर्मा (@iVs34143) June 14, 2025
My man Bavuma was called so many things choker, fraud, reservation. Temba on single leg won WTC for South Africa 🇿🇦 💚
🎶 ooo Temba Bavuma 🎶 pic.twitter.com/nUrXhhxpf5— Pratham Kapale (@pkapale27) June 14, 2025
Finally South Africa wins an ICC Trophy 🤓🥳
They will never forget this day.
Many many congratulations to @OfficialProteas 😀 pic.twitter.com/B8mdFQxQeD
— AtuL AgrawaaL 🇮🇳 (@atul_agrawal56) June 14, 2025
And he did it..
Aiden Kyle Markram
Played the innings of his life 🙌🙌
Excellent batting in one of the most important matches of his career against a mighty Australian bowling attack👌
Made South Africa win their first ICC trophy after 27 yearsTake a bow Markram 👏👏 https://t.co/lZqvbFWDpC pic.twitter.com/3GeciGSxuY
— Tanish (@raavi_tanish) June 14, 2025
Winning an ICC Title after 27 longggg years nd that too against mighty Australia … South Africa 🙌
— Ashii guptaa (@ashii_gupta30) June 14, 2025
STANDING OVATION FOR AIDEN MARKRAM AT THE LORD’S. 🙇♂️#WTCFinal #TestCricket #AUSvsSA #AUSvSA #ICC #WTC25 #WTC2O25Final #WTC2O25Final pic.twitter.com/0UrGtraIof
— Ravi (@ravi97140) June 14, 2025
South Africa has finally won the WTC and gotten rid of the chokers tag forever.#WtcFinal2025 pic.twitter.com/JSaxSYhFEZ
— rozgar_CA (@Memeswalaladka) June 14, 2025
This win for South Africa Will somewhat bring relief to the 1999 semi World Cup defeat against Australia
– its time to hold the trophy 🏆 !
Your time is now ! #WtcFinal2025 #AUSvsSA
— kashif farid (@kash8778) June 14, 2025
SOUTH AFRICA HAVE DONE IT! 🇿🇦🏆
Beating Australia in the WTC Final — this isn’t just a win, it’s a statement.
The Proteas have finally won their first major ICC tournament.
No more nearly-men. No more chokers. Just champions. Just fire. 🔥#WTC25 #ProteaFire #SAvsAUS pic.twitter.com/Ndkpz9mmsH— SHARE SHAAN (@ShareShaan) June 14, 2025
South Africa are the WTC Champions. Incredible performance this. Well deserved 👏👏👏👏
— Ashutosh Chakraborty (@bloys11) June 14, 2025
🚨 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗛 𝗔𝗙𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗔, 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬, 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗧𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗠𝗣𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗟𝗗 🇿🇦 🏆
A trophy after 27 years — Bavuma, Rabada, Markram and co. etch their names in history ✨
Finally, pain turns into glory#WTCFinal #WTC25 #SAvAUS pic.twitter.com/gcTDCA81ko— Asif Mahmood (@AsifMahmood360) June 14, 2025
𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 🏆🇿🇦
South Africa take home the 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐞 👏#WTC25 #SAvAUS pic.twitter.com/Yy4C4AQEO7
— ICC (@ICC) June 14, 2025
Kagiso Rabada and Aiden Markram power South Africa to historic WTC title glory
Speaking about the final showdown, Kagiso Rabada (5/51) and Marco Jansen (3/49) were the standout performers for the Proteas side, who turned the table with their stunning bowling in the first innings as the Australians were bowled out for 212 runs, with Beau Webster being the top scorer with 72 runs off 92 balls.
The fast bowlers from both teams made the most of the sloped surface, unpredictable bounce, and constant seam movement at Lord’s. Well, in reply, the South African team was bundled out for just 138 runs, conceding a huge lead to the Australian side in the WTC Final 2025.
Well, this time, Pat Cummins stole the show with a six-wicket haul, while Mitchell Starc scalped two wickets. In their second innings, Rabada yet again kept things tight with a four-wicket haul, and with the help of Lungi Ngidi (3/38), didn’t allow more than half of the Australian line-up to manage double-digit scores at Lord’s.
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Aiden Markram anchors epic chase against Australia in WTC Final 2025
However, Alex Carey’s 43 and Mitchell Starc’s gritty 58* helped Australia to hand a challenging target of 282 runs to the Proteas side to win the mace at Lord’s. Chasing the huge target, South Africa didn’t have a great start, losing opener Ryan Rickelton for just 6 and then Wiaan Mulder for 27 runs.
However, Aiden Markram and captain Temba Bavuma played probably the best innings of their Test careers to steady the ship for the Proteas. They added 147 runs for the third wicket to bring the side back into the game against Australia.
On the fourth day, the Proteas side lost a couple of wickets, including Bavuma, but Markram stood tall and guided his team to a historic triumph over Australia.
For Australia, Starc was the standout bowler, taking three wickets while Markram was the top scorer with 136 runs off 207 balls laced with 14 boundaries at Lord’s. Kyle Verreynne hit the winning runs for the Proteas against Starc.
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