5 records made/broken during SA vs AUS 2025 WTC Final
The 2025 World Test Championship (WTC) final concluded with South Africa beating Australia by five wickets at Lord's. South Africa scripted history with their first ICC title win since 1998.
Having won the toss, the Proteas bowled first and restricted Australia to 212 in the first innings with Kagiso Rabada picking up five wickets. South Africa were bowled out for just 138 in the reply as the game hung in a balance. However, they returned to bowl Australia out for 207 as Rabada bagged four wickets again.
They were set a target of 282 in the fourth innings, which they successfully chased down on the back of a sensational century from Aiden Markram, who scored 136, and a gritty fifty from skipper Temba Bavuma (66).
South Africa became the third team to win the WTC final after New Zealand and Australia, who won the previous two editions.
That said, here is a look a five records made/broken during the 2025 WTC final between South Africa and Australia.
#5 Second-highest sucessful run-chase at Lord's
South Africa's chase of 282 in the 2025 WTC final is the second-highest successful run-chase in a Test match at Lord's. Earlier, England had also chased down 282 in the fourth innings at Lord's in a Test against New Zealand in 2004.
The highest successful run-chase in a Test at Lord's remains the 342-run chase by West Indies against England way back in 1984. Other than that, England had chased down 277 and 216 against New Zealand in 2022 and 1965, respectively, in the past. This was also the sixth time that South Africa chased down a target of over 250 runs successfully in a Test match.
#4 Most wins as a captain in Tests without a defeat
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma, with the victory in the 2025 WTC final, now holds the record for the most wins as a captain in the format without defeats. Bavuma has won nine matches and has a drawn result from 2023 to 2025.
He also equalled former England captain Percy Chapman's record for the most number of wins as captain in their first 10 Test matches. Chapman had nine wins while Bavuma has nine as well.
#3 Highest winning streak in WTC history
With their win in the 2025 WTC final, South Africa also broke the record for the highest winning streak in the WTC history. They now have eight consecutive Test wins, which is the most by any team in a World Test Championship cycle.
The Proteas bettered the record which was previously held by India and New Zealand. Both India and New Zealand had a streak of seven consecutive Test wins, which the two teams had achieved in the first-ever cycle (2019 to 2021).
#2 Steve Smith became the first player to score 200+ runs in WTC finals
Australian modern day great and former skipper Steve Smith became the first player to score more than 200 runs in WTC finals. Smith has featured in two finals in 2023 and 2025. He now has 217 runs from three innings, the most by any player.
Moreover, Steve Smith also broke the record for the most 50-plus scores by a visiting player in Tests in England. He scored 66 in the first innings of the recently concluded final. Further, Smith also surpassed the legendary Sir Donald Bradman for the most Test runs scored by an Australian batter at Lord's with 591 runs in 10 innings at the venue.
#1 Openers of both teams being dismissed for a duck
Lastly, the 2025 final also saw a rather unique record being made with contributions from both South Africa and Australia. For the first time in a long 145-year-old history of Test cricket in England, a coincidence occurred when opening batters of both teams were dismissed for a duck in the first innings.
As Australia batted first, opener Usman Khawaja was dismissed for a 20-ball duck by Kagiso Rabada. On the other hand, Aiden Markram, opening the batting for South Africa, was also dismissed for a six-ball duck in their first innings by Mitchell Starc.