After decades of heartbreak, South Africa clinch historic victory over Australia in world Test final
London: Australia have lost their World Test Championship title to South Africa after the Proteas pulled off a nervy fourth innings chase at Lord's, to end decades of trauma in big finals.
Aiden Markram (136) guided his side to within just six runs of victory with a magnificent century before he was finally caught by Travis Head off Josh Hazlewood, but the damage was already done.
Just minutes after the crowd stood to applaud Markram as he left the field, keeper-batsman Kyle Verreynne hit Mitchell Starc through the covers to clinch a remarkable five-wicket victory after Pat Cummins' men made the Proteas sweat by keeping runs tight and taking the wickets of Temba Bavuma and Tristan Stubbs.
Australian desperation was underlined by how Cummins burned through all his team's three DRS referrals in the space of about an hour as he tried to gamble for wickets. They also appealed for a catch at short leg off Travis Head's boot, but replays showed the ball had hit the ground first. Even Verreynne would have been sent on his way late, caught behind attempting to ramp Starc.
It was ultimately a decisive triumph for the South Africans, who claimed their first win in a major global tournament final after years of near misses, most recently at last year's Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean. All up, their heartbreak in knockout games at the biggest tournaments – the men's 50-over world cup, the Twenty20 world cup, and the men's Champions Trophy – spanned two quarter-finals, 12 semi-finals and one final.
'Years in the waiting… the biggest opposition in Australia, they've given us so much heartache over the years, but now the exclamation mark of an ICC event,' said former Proteas skipper Shaun Pollock in commentary after the winning runs were struck.
'They'll be singing, they'll be dancing on the streets of South Africa.'
But this win was their eighth Test match victory in as many games.
Steve Smith could only watch the final stages from the team balcony in the members' pavilion after suffering a compound dislocation of his right little finger after trying to take a catch on the third day.
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But the teenage daughter of former Sydney squash professional Michael Joint demonstrated real courage and calm in a terrific showdown which, after a nervy spell from both players as they both homed in on the title, really hit the heights in the youngest final since Tracy Austin and Andrea Jaeger in 1981. For Eala, who's become a young heroine in the Philippines, it was all so crushing after Joint sealed the deal with a backhand cross-court winner that the 20-year-old ended in tears, with the Australian trying to console her that "we will definitely play in more finals". Remarkably, Joint's run to her first WTA title on the clay at the Morocco Open five weeks ago also came on the weekend before a grand slam, and she then got knocked out in the first round by Ajla Tomljanovic. "It's really great preparation. I've got a lot of matches in before Wimbledon, and hopefully I can be in Wimbledon a little bit longer than I was in the French," said Joint. 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