South Africa finish top of WTC table after convincing win over Pakistan
2025-01-06
Category: sports

Second Test, day four, Cape TownSouth Africa 615 (Rickelton 259) & 58-0 (Bedingham 44*)Pakistan 194 (Azam 58) & 478 (Masood 145)South Africa win by 10 wicketsScorecard
South Africa finally broke Pakistan's resistance on the fourth day of the second Test to complete a 2-0 series win and finish top of the World Test Championship table.Following on 421 runs behind, the tourists showed much more resolve in their second innings to reach parity and set the Proteas a small target of 58 in the final session of the day.South Africa made light work of the target, with former Durham batter David Bedingham - promoted up the order from number five - smashing 44 off 30 balls.Victory in Cape Town was built on a huge first-innings total of 615 all out, opener Ryan Rickelton top-scoring with 259.They enforced the follow-on after bowling out Pakistan for 194, but Shan Masood's 145 added some respectability.Babar Azam scored 81 in a first-wicket stand of 205, but Kagiso Rabada (3-115) and Keshav Maharaj (3-137) chipped away despite further resistance from Muhammad Rizwan (41), Salman Ali Agha (48) and Aamer Jamal (34) in the lower order.South Africa's victory ensures they head into June's World Test Championship final against Australia having topped the table for the two-year cycle."The guys are looking forward to it," said South Africa captain Temba Bavuma. "It's not going to be a mean feat [to beat Australia] but we will enjoy this moment and celebrate and deal with it closer to the time."Fast bowler Rabada said South Africa are confident of lifting the trophy, telling Sky Sports: "South Africa against Australia has always been an intense rivalry because we play cricket quite similar - we play hard. They're going to come hard, we know that, but we also know how to beat them."
South Africa's winning run - and when is the World Test Championship final?
South Africa are unbeaten in red-ball cricket since losing to India in Cape Town 12 months ago.Since then, they have won series against New Zealand, West Indies, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.Their last series defeat was against Australia in January 2023, with Pat Cummins' side their next opponents in the WTC final at Lord's on 11-15 June.However, former England captain Michael Vaughan has been critical of South Africa's qualification for the final, telling Fox Cricket they reached the showpiece "on the back of beating pretty much nobody".Those comments were rejected by Proteas coach Shukri Conrad, who told ESPN Cricinfo qualification is "the biggest thing in this team's existence".Conrad added: "One of the nobodies we beat won a Test match in Australia - West Indies beat Australia in a Test match. They are not nobody."New Zealand beat India three-zip in India. New Zealand is not a nobody. Sri Lanka won Test matches [against England and New Zealand]. I don't buy this thing about us beating nobody."Pakistan's next assignment is a two-Test series at home to West Indies, beginning 17 January.