Nobody much likes the World Test Championship. Not England certainly. India tends to feign uninterest in the parties to which it’s uninvited, and the event has struggled for traction in the Aussie football winter. The structure and schedule have hairs on them; the format of a single final after a progression of series makes little sense. But today at Lord’s none of this mattered. The third WTC final was won by a third different winner, which for a global trophy is no bad thing. And that the winner was South Africa, perennial bridesmaids, is a very good thing indeed.
Tears? Man of the match Aiden Markram confessed to them after his hundred. The sleeping tablet overnight? It didn’t work. The T20 World Cup? It played on his mind. But this game, and this trophy, was the one that mattered, because unlike white ball variants it involved playing ‘many days of playing good cricket’ and making ‘Test cricket the number one for South Africa.’ That and repudiation of the tag of ‘chokers’. Said Markram: ‘It’ll be great not to hear that again, that’s for sure.’
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