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South Africa needs 282 runs to win the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final 2025. The grand finale is taking place at iconic Lord's Stadium in England, where defending champions Australia scored 207 runs in the second innings. Tailender Mitchell Starc, coming in at number nine, played a crucial unbeaten knock of 58 runs, guiding Australia to a competitive total. He shared a vital 59-run partnership for the last wicket with Josh Hazlewood, who contributed 17 runs. Earlier, Alex Carey added 43 runs to the tally.
For South Africa, Kagiso Rabada was the pick of the bowlers, picking four wickets, while Lungi Ngidi got three. Australia had scored 212 in their first innings, after which South Africa was bowled out for just 138, handing the Aussies a first-innings lead of 74 runs.
Australia began day 3 play with 144 runs for eight wickets. Starc (16) and Nathan Lyon (1) started the day, but Kagiso Rabada got the early breakthrough as he picked up Lyon's wicket. After Lyon's wicket, Josh Hazlewood joined Starc, and both tailenders faced the South African bowlers well in favourable conditions for batting.
Mitchell Starc hit a Test fifty after six years
Starc hit his first Test fifty after 2019, which was the 11th fifty of his career in the longest format of the game. He crossed the 50-run mark in 131 balls. Interestingly, two years ago, in 2023, Starc also made a notable contribution with the bat in the WTC Final. He played an innings of 41 runs in the match against India. Keshav Maharaj picked up Josh Hazlewood's wicket to end the proceedings for the Pat Cummins-led side.
If South Africa managed to chase down this total, then the side will become the first team to chase down a 200-run-plus total at Lord's after 2005. Interestingly, South Africa have successfully chased down 250-plus five times in Tests till date, three of them coming against Australia, the last of which was 414 at the WACA, Perth in 2008.
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