New Delhi, India

Temba Bavuma-led South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 109 runs in the second and final Test at the St George's Park, Gqeberha on Monday (Dec 9). Day 5 started with Dhananjaya de Silva-led tourists being 205-5 in pursuit of 348 in Gqeberha. With both sides pretty much in contention for a win, they kicked off the final day's play where Keshav Maharaj led the charge as he bagged 5 for 76 that helped dismiss the Lankans for 238 in the morning session. As a result, SA inflicted a series whitewash and added 12 vital points to their kitty in the ongoing 2023-25 ICC World Test Championship (WTC) points table.

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With this win, the Proteas are on the cusp of qualifying for the WTC final, to be held at Lord's in mid-June. Notably, they are just one win away from cementing a spot. Their next Test series is at home, a two-match series versus Pakistan starting on Dec. 26. Ahead of the series, here's a look at the WTC points table:

WTC Points table SA vs SL

Also read: SA vs SL, 2nd Test: Keshav Maharaj bowls South Africa to 109-run win, complete series whitewash

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Thus, SA have moved to the top with two other contenders Australia and India at the second and third spots respectively.

Talking about the SA-SL 2nd Test, the hosts opted to bat first and rode on Ryan Rickelton's 101 and keeper-batter Kyle Verreynne's 105 to post 358. In reply, SL were 261-3 but ended up with 328, conceding a slender 30-run lead. After that, the Proteas rode on vital knocks from Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs and David Bedingham to post 317, setting up a 348-run target. While SL had their moments, they fell apart on the final day to lose convincingly.

At the post-match presentation, Bavuma said, "This Test match was a proper test of Test cricket, it's not often that you get to play on 5 days. There were times when we were on top, at times Sri Lanka looked good. A lot of credit to them, they really made us work hard, the batting was outstanding with seven of them having made centuries at this level. We'll take a lot of pride as batters, Ashwell (Prince, the batting coach) talks a lot about taking the opportunities, all of us are really happy for Rickelton who took his chances here. Jansen did well in the first Test, Paterson did well here. I think we're doing well as a team, no. 1 in the WTC table as of now, don't know what'll happen in the future, but we'll celebrate today."