In the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia at Lord's Cricket Ground, Aiden Markram, South Africa's right-handed opening batsman, chose to defend the squad. With 282 runs to chase, the Proteas urgently required a strong beginning, and Markram took the initiative by hitting his eighth Test century in 156 balls with the aid of eleven boundaries. Markram, who was not out at the end of Day 3, will join Temba Bavuma in attempting to complete the task on Saturday.

South Africa finished Day 3 with a score of 213/2, with Temba Bavuma, the captain, and Markram both still in the game with scores of 102 and 65, respectively. The Proteas only need 69 more runs to capture their first WTC title. After Australia set a goal of more than 280 runs, very few people predicted that South Africa would win the WTC final, since a total of 28 wickets fell during the first two days.

But Markram and Bavuma had other ideas as they defeated the legendary Australian assault, which included Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, and Nathan Lyon.

Many former cricketers are praising Markram's innings on social media right now. Michael Vaughan and Dale Steyn went on X (formerly Twitter) to express their gratitude for the right-hander's pivotal hit in London.

"S A U C E 100!!!!!!!!!" Steyn stated.

On the other hand, Vaughan said, “What a special innings by Aidan Markram .. At the most important time against a World class attack he has produced one of the finest tons in a final .. This is a huge moment for a S.A Cricket .. 2025 is certainly the year of the under dog .. maybe that will continue for the Ashes.”

South Africa chase history

There have previously been a number of firsts in sporting events in 2025. English team Crystal Palace captured their first trophy in 120 years by defeating Manchester City in the FA Cup, while Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) captured their first-ever Champions League championship.

In cricket, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) won the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the first time by defeating RCB in the final, thus ending their 18-year trophy drought.

All attention is now on South Africa, the Rainbow Nation, to see if they can overcome the last obstacle on Day 4 and defeat a strong Australian team in the WTC.

It should be noted that India defeated South Africa in the T20 World Cup final last year. The team then fell to New Zealand in the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

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