Aiden Markram accepts a sip of beer from school friend at Lord's after SA vs AUS 2025 WTC Final [Watch]
South African opener Aiden Markram opened up on his post-match celebrations with a school friend after his heroics in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia at the Lord's Cricket Ground. Markram revealed that he was delighted by his school friend offering him a beer and accepted it gladly.
Although the 30-year-old perished for a duck in the first innings, he solidly tamed Australia's vaunting pace attack in the second. The right-handed batter stood tall with his 136 and forged a 147-run stand with captain Temba Bavuma to break the back of the 282-run chase. By the time he perished, South Africa needed only six runs to win, and they coasted home by five wickets.
When asked by a reporter about the celebration, the Centurion-born cricketer revealed:
"That was cool. That was one of my mates from school. He wanted me to come over and I said, Flip man, I can't its too busy, it's chaos. And then he was like, here's a beer. I was like okay, I'm in. So, I've had my first one for today and I'm pretty sure there will be a few more."
By scoring a ton in a WTC final, the South African joined Travis Head and Steve Smith to accomplish the feat.
"Thought a lot about the T20 World Cup last night" - Aiden Markram
Markram had also revealed that the motivation to stay out there till they won came from the Proteas suffering a heartbreaking loss in the T20 World Cup final to India in 2024. He stated during the presser, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo:
"I thought a lot about the T20 World Cup last night and how hopeless I felt sitting on the side after getting out. I was like, I don't want to sit there again. So, this gave me a bit of motivation to make sure I stayed at the crease, if I could. But never once thought about the achievements and what would come with it. It was always about just trying to get the job done and trying to win."
South Africa also ended their 27-year-long wait for an ICC trophy, having previously won it in 1998.