Aiden Markram scored an unbeaten century as South Africa edged tantalisingly close to an unlikely success in the World Test Championship final, needing 69 runs to dethrone Australia after reaching 213-2 at stumps on the third day at Lord's on Friday.
Underdogs Nagaland showed they are made of sterner stuff as their batters fought tooth and nail all day to score 365/5 and frustrate Tamil Nadu who would be fancying their chances of enforcing a follow-on after a mammoth 512-run first-innings total in a Ranji Trophy Group A match in Bengaluru on Monday.
Australia won the toss and elected to bat, posting a par score of 172 for four, before restricting India to 167 for eight in reply. They will now await the winner of Friday's second semi-final between England and hosts South Africa.
South Africa beat Australia by five wickets to win World Test Championship
Jasprit Bumrah takes a fifer at Lord's and goes past Kapil Dev for most five wicket hauls in away Tests.
Injured wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant will bat on day five of the fourth Test, said India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak on Saturday.
True to form, Pant brought up his seventh Test hundred in the most Pant-esque way possible, with a soaring one-handed six off Shoaib Bashir. A
Pat Cummins tore through South Africa before a Proteas fightback left the ICC World Test Championship Final 2025 on a knife-edge at the end of an absorbing second day at Lord's.
Australia's assistant coach Dan Vettori said it was a "tactical decision" not to field fast bowler Mitchell Starc in his side's narrow win over Afghanistan at the Twenty20 World Cup as the defending champions' semi-final hopes hang in the balance.
One of the old world charms at any English ground is the printed scorecards that a spectator can buy at the end of day's play or match by paying a pound or two. It is considered to be a souvenir for the fans.
While defending totals of 350 or more in 59 Tests, India have won 42, with their sole defeat coming against England at Edgbaston in 2022.
The Indian team also made history at Headingley in the series opener, with five centuries scored in a Test match.
Ravichandran Ashwin tore through Australia in their second innings to set up a comprehensive victory for India by an innings and 132 runs inside three days of the spin-dominated opening Test.
IMAGES from the Women's T20 World Cup match between India and Australia in Sharjah on Sunday
South Africa completed an innings and 236-run victory over hosts Zimbabwe on the third day of the second Test on Tuesday to convincingly sweep the two-match series.
Conceding that India could not get the first innings score they were looking in the first Test against England, batting coach Sitanshu Kotak felt Rishabh Pant's stroke-filled 134 was different from his usual aggressive knock.
Left-arm spinner Wellington Masakadza was the pick of the home bowlers with figures of 4-98, while leg-spinner Vincent Masekesa took 2-117.
Mooney struck a match-winning unbeaten 74 as Australia claimed their sixth Women's T20 World Cup title
Yashasvi Jaiswal wanted to be more consistent on his first tour of England but drew immense satisfaction from his second-innings ton on a "spicy" pitch at The Oval to help India set a massive 374-run target in the fifth Test.
'The sun is on us,' declared SA skipper Temba Bavuma following the World Test Championship triumph.
Pat Cummins registered the first hat-trick of the 2024 T20 World Cup as Australia restricted Bangladesh to 140 for 8 in the Super Eight match at the Sir Vivian Richards stadium, in Antigua, on Friday.
South Africa have eight wickets in hand and are now overwhelming favourites to finish off the job, and take the title away from champions Australia, who had set them a daunting fourth innings target of 282 in the final on Friday.
David Warner and all-rounder Marcus Stoinis scored half-centuries as 2021 champions Australia opened their account in the T20 World Cup with a 39-run win against Oman.
'T20 is a hard format. We are excited for what is to come.'
SKY hit an assured knock of 80 as the hosts chased down 208 in Visakhapatnam
New Zealand's Devon Conway paid tribute to his opening partner Finn Allen for the way he took on Australia's vaunted pace attack as the Black Caps romped to an 89-run victory Twenty20 World Cup on Saturday.
Selected at number three ahead of the burgeoning talent of Jacob Bethell, who averaged 52 on his first Test tour of New Zealand, Pope settled after early scares to compile his ninth Test century.
India are favourites to secure victory and draw the series, but England will still fancy their chances of completing what would be by far the highest successful Test run chase at The Oval.
Atkinson, who is playing his first Test of the series following a hamstring strain, said that he is "ready to push the limits" in case Woakes does not take any further part.
Ben Stokes will take time to recover from memories of the catch he dropped, which cost England the first Test in the Ashes 2023 series against Australia.
Ashwell Prince, South Africa's batting coach, labelled Aiden Markram as the "man for the big occasion" after the opener steered the Proteas towards what could be a famous run-chase in the ICC World Test Championship final against Australia on Friday.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran shared an opening stand of 118 to drive Afghanistan to a stunning 21-run win over Australia.
Post-lunch, Pant brought up his half-century with a single before launching his third maximum, cementing his reputation as one of the game's most fearless stroke-makers in red-ball cricket.
The 123-match veteran, affectionately nicknamed 'The GOAT'
'Bosch is new to the international scene, but he's really fit in well. To see him conquer both facets (bat and ball) in this Test was really special.'
After hundreds upon hundreds of runs on flat tracks in the ongoing series so far, it took the green top at The Oval to finally produce the best day of the Indian summer, on the fifth and last Friday of the Test series.
Pat Cummins produced a vicious bowling onslaught to leave India battered and bruised as Australia took a 296-run lead on day three.
England lead 2-1 in the series and victory at Old Trafford would seal it.
Winning their last T20 World Cup Super Eight match against Australia was not a 'breeze', says India skipper Rohit Sharma. He had to tweak his batting to take the wind out of the 2021 champions' sails
England have only drawn one from 35 Tests in the McCullum-Stokes regime, with one of their exhilarating run chases in that spell coming when they reached 378 against India in 2022 -- the only time India have lost when defending Test totals of more than 350.
