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 RoundOpponentResultLeague stageOpponentResult (A)Australia 2–2 EnglandSeries 1 (H)South Africa 1–1 India (H)Australia 3–0 PakistanSeries 2South Africa 0–2 New Zealand (H)Australia 1–1 West IndiesSeries 3 (A)South Africa 1–0 West IndiesAustralia 2–0 New Zealand (A)South Africa 2–0 Bangladesh (H)Australia 3–1 IndiaSeries 5 (H)South Africa 2–0 Sri Lanka (A)Australia 2–0 Sri LankaSeries 6 (H)South Africa 2–0 Pakistan Source:
Final standings TeamMatchesQualification112813014410069.44Advanced to the final21913241022815467.54Source: International Cricket Council, ESPNcricinfo A win is worth 12 points. A draw is worth 4 points. A tie is worth 6 points. Points deductions:
Squads Pat Cummins (c) Steve Smith (vc) Scott Boland Alex Carey (wk) Cameron Green Josh Hazlewood Travis Head Josh Inglis (wk) Usman Khawaja Sam Konstas Matthew Kuhnemann Marnus Labuschagne Nathan Lyon Mitchell Starc Beau Webster Temba Bavuma (c) David Bedingham Corbin Bosch Tony de Zorzi Marco Jansen Keshav Maharaj Aiden Markram Wiaan Mulder Senuran Muthusamy Lungi Ngidi Dane Paterson Kagiso Rabada Ryan Rickelton (wk) Tristan Stubbs Kyle Verreynne (wk)
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
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.
Australia 1st innings
Fall of wickets: : 1–12 (Khawaja, 6.3 ov), 2–16 (Green, 6.6 ov), 3–46 (Labuschagne, 17.6 ov), 4–67 (Head, 23.2 ov), 5-146 (Smith, 41.6 ov), 6-192 (Carey, 51.1 ov), 7-199 (Cummins, 52.4 ov), 8-210 (Webster, 54.4 ov), 9-211 (Lyon, 55.5 ov), 10-212 (Starc, 56.4 ov).
South Africa 1st innings
Fall of wickets: 1–0 (Markram, 0.6 ov), 2–19 (Rickelton, 8.4 ov), 3–25 (Mulder, 15.2 ov), 4–30 (Stubbs, 20.2 ov), 5–94 (Bavuma, 39.2 ov), 6–126 (Verreynne, 51.3 ov), 7–126 (Jansen, 51.6 ov), 8–135 (Bedingham, 55.2 ov), 9–138 (Maharaj, 56.5 ov), 10–138 (Rabada, 57.1 ov)
Australia 2nd innings
Fall of wickets: 1–28 (Khawaja, 10.2 ov), 2–28 (Green, 10.4 ov), 3–44 (Labuschagne, 17.5 ov), 4–48 (Smith, 18.5 ov), 5–64 (Webster, 22.6 ov), 6–66 (Head, 23.4 ov), 7–73 (Cummins, 24.5 ov), 8–134 (Carey, 38.2 ov), 9–148 (Lyon, 42.4 ov), 10–207 (Hazlewood, 64.6 ov)
South Africa 2nd innings
Fall of wickets: 1–9 (Rickelton, 2.1 ov), 2–70 (Mulder, 17.4 ov), 3–217 (Bavuma, 58.6 ov), 4–241 (Stubbs, 70.3 ov), 5–276 (Markram, 80.6 ov)
Broadcasting
+ List of broadcasters Country Television broadcaster(s) Radio Digital streamingAfghanistanAriana Television Ariana NewsAriana Television Ariana NewsAustraliaAmazon (company)ABC RadioAmazon Prime VideoBangladeshNagorik TVT SportsToffeeUnited Kingdom IrelandSky SportsBBC Radio 5 Sports ExtraAll Caribbean islandsESPN CaribbeanESPN CaribbeanUSA and CanadaWillowWillow TVIndia Star SportsJioHotstarNew ZealandSky SportsNZME RadioSky Go Sky Sports NowMENAEtisalat andStarzplayPakistanPTV SportsTamashaSri LankaMaharaja TVTV OneSub Saharan AfricaSupersportSupersport, DSTV AppPacific IslandsDigicelTVWan ActionRest of the WorldICC.tvICC.tv
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
References