The shortest route to Lord's
The third cycle exposed the thing the percentage system was designed to hide. Because the fixture list is drawn from bilateral scheduling rather than by the ICC, teams played wildly different numbers of matches: England 22, Australia and India 19 each, South Africa 12. South Africa's six series were against India, New Zealand, West Indies, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, four of them of two Tests, and they contested 144 points where Australia contested 228.
That asymmetry was held against them at the time, and it is a fair criticism of the format rather than of the side. What South Africa then did with the schedule they were given was win eight of twelve, the last seven of them consecutively between August 2024 and January 2025. They beat West Indies in Guyana, Bangladesh twice away, Sri Lanka twice at home and Pakistan twice, the first of those by two wickets at Centurion, and finished on 69.44 per cent, just under two percentage points clear of Australia.
Australia's cycle contained a drawn Ashes in England, a 3-1 win over India at home and a 10-point over-rate deduction from a single Test at Old Trafford in 2023. England, who lost 22 points to slow over rates and won more matches than anybody except Australia, finished fifth. India, the finalists in both previous cycles, finished third.
Four days at Lord's
The final was moved to Lord's, and produced the shortest of the three so far. Australia batted first on a green surface and were out for 212, Beau Webster making 72 and Kagiso Rabada taking 5/51. South Africa were then dismantled by Pat Cummins, who took 6/28 from 18.1 overs; they were 138 all out and 74 behind.
Australia lost six wickets for 66 on the second evening and looked to have thrown the match away, but Mitchell Starc batted for 136 balls and finished 58 not out, dragging the second innings to 207 and the lead to 281.
South Africa needed 282. Aiden Markram, who had been bowled by Starc for a six-ball nought in the first innings, batted for 207 balls and made 136; Temba Bavuma, the captain, made 66, and the two added 147 for the third wicket. Markram was the fifth wicket to fall, at 276, six runs from the target, and David Bedingham finished it on the fourth morning.
Twenty-seven years
South Africa had not won a global title since the 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy in Dhaka, a gap filled by lost semi-finals and one lost World Cup final. Bavuma became the first South African captain to lift an ICC trophy since Hansie Cronje in Dhaka. The winners took a record prize of US$3.6 million, against US$2.16 million for Australia.