WTC Standings After SA vs SL 2nd Test: South Africa Claim Top Spot, Dent Sri Lanka’s Final Hopes

WTC Final 2025: New leaders emerged in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 standings after South Africa completed a 2-0 series white-wash against fellow WTC final aspirants Sri Lanka on Monday (December 9).

With crucial WTC points at stake, both teams battled hard to keep their hopes alive for next year's final at Lord's. And in the end, it was Temba Bavuma-led South Africa, who came out on top after back-to-back wins over Dhananjaya de Silva’s Sri Lanka.

On the final day of play in Port Elizabeth, Sri Lanka's lower order crumbled to the dominance of South Africa's bowling attack in the first session as both set batters Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva were dismissed early by Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada.

Maharaj later added the wickets of Prabath Jayasuriya and Vishwa Fernando to complete his five-wicket haul before Marco Jansen then wrapped up the innings, dismissing Lahiru Kumara with his first delivery of the day.

With this win, South Africa climbed to the top of the World Test Championship standings with a point percentage of 63.33, while Sri Lanka remained in fourth, but their percentage of points took a hit, dropping from 50.00 to 45.45.

The WTC Final chasing teams - South Africa, India, Australia and Sri Lanka - will all be in action in the coming weeks. Here is a look at the latest WTC standings followed by the remaining matches in WTC 2023-25 cycle:

WTC 2023-25 Standings After SA vs SL 2nd Test on December 9, 2024

Team	Matches	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win Percent	Points
South Africa	10	6	3	1	63.33	76
Australia	14	9	4	1	60.71	102
India	16	9	6	1	57.29	110
Sri Lanka	11	5	6	0	45.45	60
England	21	11	9	1	45.24	114
New Zealand	13	6	7	0	44.23	72
Pakistan	10	4	6	0	33.33	40
Bangladesh	12	4	8	0	31.25	45
West Indies	11	2	7	2	24.24	32

Earlier on Sunday (December 8), India dropped down to third position in the WTC standings after defeat in Adelaide. India currently have a win percentage of 57.29 per cent following 9 wins, a draw and 6 defeats in 16 matches.

Australia, on the other hand, had climbed to first spot in the standing at least for 24 hours with a point percentage of 60.71 per cent following nine wins, one draw and four defeats in 14 matches.

Also, England leapfrogged New Zealand to take the fifth position in the WTC standings, while New Zealand slipped to the sixth spot in the World Test Championship standings with a point percentage of 44.23 per cent following six wins and seven defeats in 13 matches.

Both England and New Zealand were penalised for slow over-rate in the first Test. England and New Zealand are out of contention in the WTC final race, but the two sides will still look to finish their cycle on a positive note when they clash next week.

Apart from India, Australia, England and New Zealand, the WTC final favourites South Africa will also be in red ball action in the coming days. Here is a look at the Test matches of the WTC 2023-25 cycle scheduled for the rest of December 2024, January and February 2025: