Dissecting South Africa's victorious 2023-25 WTC campaign in stats
What's the story
Team South Africa has ended its 27-year-long wait for an ICC trophy by winning the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia at Lord's.
The Proteas chased down a target of 282 runs with five wickets to spare, marking their first ICC title since 1998.
Aiden Markram was instrumental in the chase, scoring a crucial 136 and leading his team to victory. Meanwhile, Kagiso Rabada claimed nine wickets in the match.
Here we decode SA's victorious campaign in stats.
Points table
SA topped the standings
South Africa booked their first-ever WTC Final spot with a thrilling two-wicket win over Pakistan in the Boxing Day Test at Centurion last year.
They eventually finished atop the cycle with eight wins, three defeats, and a draw (PCT: 69.44).
SA had clinched just one of their first five Tests in this cycle before winning seven on the bounce.
They won five of their six Tests at home. Their other three wins came in six away games (2 losses).
Record
The Bavuma brilliance
The win in the final made SA first time to win eight matches on a bounce in WTC history.
Meanwhile, each of the team's nine wins in this cycle came under Bavuma's leadership.
Notably, he became SA's Test skipper at the start of this cycle.
As per Cricbuzz, Bavuma's tally of nine wins is the most for a player from his first 10 Tests as captain.
He equaled former England's Percy Chapman.
Batters
Bavuma scored the most runs for SA
Bavuma led from the front as he finished as SA's joint-highest run-scorer in this cycle, having mustered 711 runs from eight games.
His average of 59.25 was the second-best among batters with 250-plus runs in this cycle.
David Bedingham also managed 711 runs but his average was 35.55.
Markram (708 at 37.26) was the only other Proteas batter with at least 700 runs.
Meanwhile, wicket-keeper Kyle Verreynne clocked the most tons for SA (3).
Record knocks
Ryan Rickelton's brilliant 259 vs Pakistan
Ryan Rickelton made a match-winning 259 came from 343 deliveries against Pakistan in the 2025 New Year's Test in Cape Town.
This is the third-highest individual score of this cycle as SA won by 10 wickets.
Tony de Zorzi (177 vs Bangladesh) and Dean Elgar (185 vs India) are the other SA batters with 150-plus scores in this cycle.
Bowlers
Rabada took the most wickets
Kagiso Rabada played a defining role in SA's triumph, scalping nine wickets in the final at Lord's.
The speedster signed off with 56 wickets in WTC 2023-25.
His average of 18.73 was only behind India's Jasprit Bumrah (15.09) in terms of bowlers with 50-plus wickets in the 2023-25 cycle.
Spinner Keshav Maharaj was SA's second-highest wicket-taker with 41 scalps at 20.95.
Meanwhile, Marco Jansen was the only other SA bowler with 30-plus scalps (33 at 21.54).
Spell
Jansen's magical spell vs Sri Lanka
Jansen rattled Sri Lanka on Day 2 of the Durban Test last year.
The pacer's 7/13 from just 6.5 overs saw Sri Lanka get folded for just 42 runs, their lowest score in Tests.
Jasen hence recorded the second-best bowling figures in the 2023-25 WTC cycle, only behind Pakistan's Noman Ali's 8/46 vs England.
Overall, Jansen and Maharaj scalped two fifers each in this cycle. Rabada touched this feat four times.
Team totals
Highest and lowest scores
SA posted 615/10 vs Pakistan in the Cape Town Test earlier this year, their highest team score in this cycle.
This is overall the third-highest team total in this edition. Their only other 500-plus score came against Bangladesh in Chattogram last year, 575/6d.
Meanwhile, SA also clocked the fifth-lowest total in this cycle, 55/10 vs India in Cape Town, 2024.