South Africa thrash Australia by five wickets to win World Test Championship

LONDON: South Africa won the World Test Championship on Saturday, completing a remarkable turnaround to beat Australia by five wickets as they successfully chased down an imposing 282-run target.

But it was an edgy finish as they took 27.4 overs to slowly score the 69 runs needed to secure success on the fourth day at Lord’s after resuming at 213-2 overnight.

In so doing, they completed a successful pursuit of the joint second-highest winning fourth-innings total in test history at the London venue.

It was a first major cricket triumph for South Africa, who had earned an unwanted reputation for failure when on the cusp of victory over the last decades in limited overs competitions.