South African captain Temba Bavuma made a courageous knock in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) Final at Lord’s, bringing his team within a whisker of a historic victory before succumbing early on Day 4. With Aiden Markram undefeated on 122, the Proteas are only 35 runs away from victory over Australia, chasing 282.
Temba Bavuma match-winning knock on Day 3 shifted the momentum in the Proteas’ favour.
Despite sustaining a hamstring strain, the South African skipper went undefeated on 65* at stumps, forming an important 147-run partnership with centurion Markram.
With South Africa on 213/2 and just 69 runs from their objective, the overnight combination of Markram and Bavuma looked to prolong their innings. However, the Australians quickly made a breakthrough.
In the 59th over, Australian skipper Pat Cummins’ ball forced the right-handed batter into a defensive stance, giving Alex Carey an edge behind the stumps. Bavuma returned after 66 off 134 balls, to a standing ovation from the Lord’s crowd. His innings featured five fours.
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𝐂𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 🎯#PatCummins strikes early, removing #Bavuma with a beauty to give #Australia the perfect start 🔥
LIVE NOW 👉 https://t.co/MvXQ5m8mxf#WTCFinal | #SAvAUS | LIVE NOW onwards on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 Hindi & JioHotstar pic.twitter.com/wSaP5gdbCp
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South Africa on the verge of creating history.
The Proteas’ scorecard read 217/3 at the time of dismissal, with Markram remaining at the crease as Tristan Stubbs was eventually dismissed by Mitchell Starc. Meanwhile, the South African captain has 1,992 runs in the World Test Championship, passing Dean Elgar as the competition’s best run-scorer. He has scored 711 runs with an average of 59.25 during this WTC cycle. Overall, the 34-year-old has made 3,708 Test runs at an average of 38.22, with four centuries and 25 fifties. He has an average of 41.78 against Australia in nine Tests.
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