South Africa Proceeds For WTC Final in Lords
South Africa Proceeds For WTC Final in Lords, as they managed to Defeat Pakistan in a Thriller in Centurion in Sunday. South Africa, captained by Temba Bavuma, qualified for the World Test Championship (WTC) final on Sunday. The match will take place at London’s Lord’s Cricket Ground in June 2025. After defeating Pakistan by two wickets in the opening Test of the two-match series, the Proteas advanced to the summit match. The Proteas were in trouble after being lowered to 99/8 while chasing 148. But in the second session of Day 4, Kagiso Rabada (31) and Marco Jansen (16) made sure the hosts crossed the finish line in Centurion
South Africa needed to win just one game to advance to the WTC final going into the two-Test series against Pakistan. The outcome of the second Test between Pakistan and South Africa is now irrelevant. As of this now, Proteas is leading the WTC standings.
However, Abbas’ efforts were in futile as Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen’s undefeated 51-run partnership for the ninth wicket sealed the victory for the hosts.
Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma were initially reserved in their approach, with the hosts still needing 121. They didn’t fish beyond their off-stump; they played the balls based on merit. After Naseem Shah took the catch, he stepped over the boundary line, allowing Bavuma to pull Abbas for a six as they dominated the drives through the covers.
The game took a turn for the worst after the refreshments break. By castleing Markram and obtaining a delivery to maintain low before striking the off-stump, Abbas was ultimately rewarded for his composure. David Bedingham and Bavuma reduced the equation to 52 runs before Abbas oddly dismissed the former.
The ball struck Bavuma’s pants pocket, causing him to miss a heave and get caught behind. Oddly, the batter left without reviewing, which caused the hosts to collapse badly, going from 96 for 4 to 99 for 8. After surviving two appeals in the first hour when the ball bounced off the trousers and was caught by Rizwan, Bavuma was dismissed.
Abbas dismissed Bedingham and Corbin Bosch off consecutive deliveries after Naseem came through in the following over to get Kyle Verreyne to chop on to his stumps. Abbas had a fantastic spell that lasted from the beginning of Day 4 till the very conclusion of play.
In contrast to their predecessors, Jansen and Rabada did not poke their bat outside the off-stump. At 116 for 8, they took the hosts to lunch without suffering any more damage after they left balls that weren’t in line with the stumps and pounced on the loose balls that the engine Abbas and Naseem gave.
Rabada survived a nick from Abbas that didn’t reach Rizwan behind the stumps, but it took 5.3 overs for South Africa to secure the victory after the interval. The two batters targeted the bowlers from the other end, realizing that Abbas was beating the bat continuously.
Perfectly timing the ball, Rabada sent Naseem over cover for a boundary before Jansen cut off Abbas with a square to reduce the score to 15. The crowd gradually became louder than before.Then, in an odd move that proved expensive for the visitors, Pakistan brought Aamer Jamal into the attack with his first over of the innings. In an 11-run over, Rabada hit him for two fours before Marco Jansen completed the victory by cutting Abbas off to the fence with another square and sealed the victory for the Proteas as they proceed for their first WTC Final.
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