2025 World Test Championship final

The 2025 ICC World Test Championship final was a Test cricket match played at Lord's, London from 11 to 14 June to determine the winner of the 2023–2025 ICC World Test Championship. It was played between Australia and South Africa.

South Africa won the match by 5 wickets to win the third edition of the ICC World Test Championship. This marked South Africa's maiden win of the Championship. As winners, they received a cash prize of US$3.6 million, while the Australian team received a cash prize of US$2.1 million. This was also South Africa's first ICC title since 1998.

Background

The points system remained unchanged from the previous edition. A team that was behind the required over rate at the end of a match would have one point deducted for each over it was behind. As in the previous edition, the teams are ranked in the league table based on percentage of total points won out of total points contested.

During the 2023–2025 ICC World Test Championship, both South Africa and Australia emerged as the leading teams in terms of points. Going into the final Australia held the top position in the ICC Men's Test Team Rankings while South Africa secured the second spot. South Africa made their first-ever appearance in the WTC final, whereas Australia were the defending champions having won the previous edition against India in the 2023 final.

In May 2025, the ICC revealed the prize money for the final. The champions received USD $3.6 million while the runners-up received USD $2.16 million.

Road to the final

Series results

Source:

Final standings

• A win is worth 12 points. A draw is worth 4 points. A tie is worth 6 points.
• Points deductions:

Squads

Australia also named Brendan Doggett as a travelling reserve.

Match

Match officials

On 23 May 2025, the ICC announced the match officials for the final.

• On-field umpires: Chris Gaffaney (NZ) and Richard Illingworth (Eng)
• Third umpire: Richard Kettleborough (Eng)
• Reserve umpire: Nitin Menon (Ind)
• Match referee: Javagal Srinath (Ind)

Match details and scorecard

• South Africa won the toss and elected to field.
• Travis Head (Aus) surpassed Rohit Sharma to become the second-highest run-scorer in ICC finals in just 4 innings.
• Steve Smith (Aus) surpassed Sachin Tendulkar for most 50+ scores in ICC knockouts and set a record for the most Test runs at Lord's for a visiting batter with 591*, beating Warren Bardsley's 575.
• Kagiso Rabada (SA) became the first South African to take a five-wicket haul in a WTC final, the second overall after Kyle Jamieson, and only the second South African after Jacques Kallis to claim a five-wicket haul in a major ICC final.
• Mitchell Starc (Aus) surpassed Mohammed Shami for the highest number of wickets in major men's ICC tournament finals.
• Pat Cummins (Aus) took his 300th Test wicket, becoming the fifth fastest to do so by balls bowled (13,725). He became the first captain with a six-wicket haul in an ICC final, recorded best Test figures (6/28) by a captain, surpassing Bob Willis' 6/101, overtook Jasprit Bumrah as the leading wicket-taker in WTC 2023–25, and became joint-second for most Test five-wicket hauls as captain.
• Usman Khawaja (Aus) completed 15,000 first-class runs.
• Aiden Markram (SA) became the third player overall, and the first from South Africa, to score a century in the World Test Championship final.
• Temba Bavuma (SA) and Kane Williamson are the only captains to have scored 50 or more runs in a WTC Final.
• This was South Africa's first ICC title since 1998.

Match summary

Day 1

In the first session, Australia had scored 67 runs for the loss of 4 wickets. At the end of second session, Australia managed to score 113 more runs for the loss of just 1 wicket with contributions from Steve Smith and Beau Webster. In the third session, Australia lost all their remaining wickets for only 22 runs. Webster was the highest run scorrer with 72 off 92 balls while Kagiso Rabada picked up a five-wicket haul. At the end of day 1, South Africa had scored 43 runs for the loss of 4 wickets.

Day 2

In the first session of day 2, South Africa scored 78 runs while losing only one wicket with contributions from David Bedingham and Temba Bavuma. After a rain-delay, South Africa finished their innings with 17 more runs while losing all the remaining wickets. Bedingham was the highest run scorrer, while Pat Cummins took a six-wicket haul. At the end of second session, Australia had scored 32 runs for the loss of 2 wickets. In third session, Australia scored 112 runs while losing six wickets with contributions from Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc.

Day 3

In the first session of day 3, Australia finished their innings adding 63 runs while losing all their remaining wickets. Starc was the highest run scorer, while Rabada picked up a four-wicket haul. In the second session, South Africa scored 94 runs for the loss of 2 wickets. In the third session, South Africa scored 119 runs without losing any wickets with contributions from Aiden Markram and Bavuma.

Day 4

In the first session of day 4, South Africa scored 69 runs for the loss of 3 wickets to secure victory by 5 wickets.

Broadcasting

The ICC named the following panel of commentators for the final:

• Ian Bishop
• Stuart Broad
• Matthew Hayden
• Nasser Hussain
• Mel Jones
• Dinesh Karthik
• Kevin Pietersen
• Shaun Pollock
• Graeme Smith
• Ravi Shastri
• Ian Smith