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Aiden Markram played arguably the most important knock of his Test career so far as he brought up his eighth century in the format during the third day of the World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord’s.
He reached the three-figure mark in 156 balls with a four off Josh Hazlewood’s bowling in the penultimate over of the day, and remained unbeaten on 102 off 159 with South Africa needing 69 runs to win.
Markram had opened the innings with Ryan Rickelton and stood firm even as his opening partner and Wiaan Mulder fell to Mitchell Starc inside 18 overs after South Africa was set a daunting 282-run target.
He paired with skipper Temba Bavuma in an unbroken 148-run partnership for the third wicket to put South Africa within striking distance of its first piece of ICC silverware since 1998.
Markram is only the third batter to score a ton in a WTC final, after Steven Smith and Travis Head, who scored centuries against India during the summit clash in 2023 at The Oval.
