London [UK] June 13 (ANI): South African batter Aiden Markram makes history by becoming the first Proteas batter to score a hundred in an ICC tournament Final.

He achieved this feat during his outing in the World Test Championship Final 2025 against Australia at the Home of Cricket, Lord's in London on Friday.

He also became the fourth batter after Jacques Kallis (113* against Sri Lanka in the 1998 ICC Knockout semifinal against SL), Herschelle Gibbs (116* against India in CT 2002 semifinals), and David Miller (101 against Australia in the World Cup 2023 semifinal) to hit a century for SA in ICC knockout matches.

The Proteas are less than 70 runs away from clinching their first-ever World Test Championship (WTC) title against Australia in the final.

South Africa have reached 213 runs in 56 overs, led by a century-run partnership between Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma. Despite a hamstring injury, SA captain Bavuma has fought through to register a half-century.

Earlier in the day, A fine half-century partnership between Aiden Markram and Wiaan Mulder put South Africa in a solid spot at the end of the second session during day three of the WTC final at Lord's on Friday.

At the end of the session, SA was 94/2, with skipper Temba Bavuma (11*) and Markram (49*) unbeaten. Starc played one of the finest innings of his life, which powered Australia to 207/10, leading by 281 at lunch.

Starc remained not out on 58, leaving Proteas to chasing 282 to end their ICC title drought. On the other hand, Australia will be looking to bowl out SA to retain their WTC title.

Brief Scores: Australia: 212 and 207 (Mitchell Starc 58*, Alex Carey 43, Kagiso Rabada 4/59) against SA: 138 and 94/2 (Aiden Markram 102*, Temba Bavuma 65*, Mitchell Starc 2/37). (ANI)