Temba Bavuma breaks silence on ‘chokers’ sledging by Aussies in WTC final

LONDON: Temba Bavuma was well aware of the mental games Australia tried to play on day four of the ICC World Test Championship final at Lord’s. 

The age-old ‘chokers’ label was thrown around, but by the end of the day, South Africa had finally consigned that narrative to history.

Resuming at the start of the fourth day with 69 runs required to secure victory, Bavuma and Aiden Markram faced intense pressure. The Australians made sure the Proteas knew the job wasn't done. 

The tension only escalated when Pat Cummins dismissed Bavuma—caught behind with 65 still needed—and Mitchell Starc sent Tristan Stubbs’ off-stump cartwheeling with a brilliant delivery, reducing the target to 41.

But Aiden Markram stood firm, guiding his team to the brink of glory with a memorable innings under pressure.

After the match, Bavuma reflected on the changing nature of Australia's on-field demeanor in recent years—clearly hinting at the infamous 2018 series—but admitted there were still subtle attempts to rattle the Proteas.

"Playing against Australia is a bit different in the last couple of years," he said. "They're not as vocal out on the field. They're still aggressive through their body language, through obviously their skill, but there's not a lot of chatter.

"Of course, the tag of us being chokers, that came about this morning. One of their players threw out the fact that we could lose our eight wickets in less than 60 runs. I definitely heard that.

"Aiden kept using the [words] lock in after every over, let's keep locking in. Let's give them nothing. So yeah, not a lot of chatter, just one or two things that were, that were said."

Australia did their best to prolong the contest, even managing to take the second new ball. 

But by then, South Africa needed just 14 runs, and Markram emphatically dispatched the first delivery of the new ball to the midwicket boundary—bringing them within touching distance.

"It was kind of just draw it out as long as we can, try and for the pace bowlers, just try and go for two runs an over," Cummins said. "[Nathan] Lyon was looking really likely and you never know, maybe some clouds come over, maybe a new ball does something different, just try to string it out as more and more nerves play into it as well."

Markram, who had shown emotion after reaching his century on the third evening and had previously opened up about past disappointments—such as last year’s T20 World Cup—hoped this victory would finally put an end to the painful narrative.

"It would be great to not have to hear it again, that's for sure," he said. "In terms of it motivating you, I mean, there's always going to be external things that can motivate you, but it's not your sole purpose for playing. To have got the job done and to literally have got the job done and to get rid of that is quite a big thing for this team."

Cummins was gracious in defeat, praising Markram’s composed knock and acknowledging South Africa’s deserved win.

"A few of us have played alongside him as well in IPL and [he's] very well respected," he said. "He's a good man, Aidan. Unfortunately for us, he kind of made it look pretty easy out there and just built a big innings. We threw a fair bit at him, but [he] had an answer for everything."

"Everyone has a slightly different route to make the final, but they absolutely deserved to make the final and showed why I think they're very deserving champions."