Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram etched their name in the history books as they pair put South Africa on the cusp of their maiden World Test Championship (WTC) title with a stunning display with the bat on Day 3 of the clash.

The duo put up an unbeaten partnership of 143 runs as South Africa went into stumps at 213-2 on Day 3. Markram has already completed a century (102*) while Bavuma is batting on 65. The Proteas will come to bat on Day 4, just 69 runs away from the target as they aim to lift an ICC trophy after 27 years.

Bavuma and Markram have etched their name in the history books and become the first pair in history to put up a century partnership in a WTC final in a team's second innings. Previously, New Zealand's Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson put up the highest partnership in the third or fourth innings of the summit with a 96-run stand against India in the 2021 final at Southampton.

Infact, Bavuma and Markram are only the third pair in history to score a 100+ partnership in a WTC final after Australia's Travis Head-Steve Smith (285) and India's Ajinkya Rahane-Shardul Thakur (109). Both efforts had come in the 2023 final at Oval.

Players	Runs	Innings	Team	Opponent	Year
Temba Bavuma-Aiden Markram	143	4	South Africa	Australia	2025
Kane Williamson-Ross Taylor	96	4	New Zealand	India	2021
Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc	93	3	Australia	India	2023
Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane	86	4	India	Australia	2023
Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith	62	3	Ausrtalia	India	2023

Markram and Bavuma's efforts are already the fifth-highest fourth-wicket partnership in a Test match at Lord's. They also broke the record for the highest by a third-wicket pair at the venue in the final innings of the match, which previously belonged to Geoffrey Boycott and Ted Dexter ( 126 runs vs New Zealand, 1965)

Markram and Bavuma are the first non-English pair to have a 100 partnership for the third wicket in a fourth innings of a Test match at Lord's in history.

Individually, Markram's knock is the first instance of a second-innings century in a WTC final. He is only the third player after Smith and Head to score a ton in the summit clash. Both players made a ton against India in 2023 in the first innings. The South African star is also the first player to score a century and take a wicket in the mega clash.

Overall, Markram is the 16th player to score a century in the final of an ICC event but the first from South Africa.

Bavuma is only the second captain after Kane Williamson to score a half-century in a WTC final and now has The South African skipper has the individual score by a captain in the history of the clash.

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