Australia vs South Africa Live Score, ICC WTC Final 2025: Hello and a very warm welcome to News18 CricketNext’s live coverage of the third day of the 2025 World Test Championship final at Lord’s.

This is almost certain to be the last day of this Test. 14 wickets fell on the first two days and according to Australia’s captain Pat Cummins, the pitch is only getting more difficult to bat on — which should make it difficult for the remaining 12 batters to survive and beat the trend.

But it’s here that the margins of big matches come into play. A lot of the 28 wickets so far can be put down to poor batting and a lack of preparedness for the moving red cherry. South Africa’s bowlers have done the job for them twice now, by getting the Aussies out for 212 in the first innings and then keeping them down to 144/8 in the third. Australia having a lead of 218, the most runs for an innings in this Test, is not on them.

It is as big an invitation as it could be for the Proteas’ batting lineup to step up. It’ll require an effort of the highest — almost unprecedented — order to do it against this bowling attack at this stage. But there’s no tomorrow to this opportunity to end the 27-year-long wait for a senior men’s ICC title; it’s now or an even more painful wait for several months and probably years.

Doing it against the odds is what makes the champions. Can Temba Bavuma and his men create history?

Teams:

South Africa (Playing 11): Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Temba Bavuma (c), David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne (WC), Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi

Australia (Playing 11): Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey (WK), Pat Cummins (C), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood