The old story of South Africa being the perennial underachievers in international cricket has been broken at last. History was made by the Proteas at the hallowed Lord’s Cricket Ground on Saturday as they beat Australia by five wickets to win the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) title – and their first ICC trophy in 27 years. The win not only ends their title drought, but it also exorcises the ghosts of heartbreaks in ICC events that had accompanied them in the past.
The Proteas’ innings of 282 was built around a magnificent hundred by Aiden Markram and a very brave and dogged effort by captain Temba Bavuma, who played with a hamstring injury and remained not out at the crease. They put on a match-winning stand to put the Australian attack, consisting of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon, among others, puzzled and helpless.
The start of the Proteas was not smooth at all. Opener Ryan Rickelton became the early victim of Starc, and the concerns of another collapse threat were there. Markram, however, stabilised through Wiaan Mulder, who scored 29 runs before falling, once more to Starc. That is when Bavuma, clearly struggling with the injury, came in to bat with Markram. The pair demonstrated a great deal of calmness and character to see out the rest of Day 3 without any more damage.
At the start of Day 4, South Africa required 69 additional runs chasing with eight wickets in hand. It sounded like a simple thing to do, but it was a psychological struggle because of the burden of history. However, the Proteas were not going to crumble this time. An eighth Test century by Markram and an ever-present Bavuma led the team home, ending a 30-year-long jinx.
In a season of fairy tales being rewritten after years of waiting and toil, RCB, having triggered the movement first, the WTC win by South Africa is a seminal one. The label of chokers can finally be put to rest.
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