ICC launches World Test Championship

We are awaiting the ICC World Test Championship with great enthusiasm as it adds context to the longest format of the game. Test cricket is very challenging and coming out on top in the traditional form is always highly satisfying. The Indian team has done really well in recent years and will be fancying its chances in the championship.

Virat Kohli 

India skipper

The ICC officially launched the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) through a press release on their website yesterday. The championship is slated to begin with the first Ashes Test between England and Australia in Edgbaston from August 1, 2019.

The top nine teams -- Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies -- according to the ICC Test rankings on the cut-off date of March 31, 2018, will compete in 71 Test matches across 27 Test series over a period of two years. The final between the top two teams at the end of the cycle will take place in the United Kingdom in June 2021 and will be staged by the ICC.

All other matches will be under the purview of bilateral agreements between boards, similar to the current arrangement, with the difference being that those matches will carry points and determine where teams stack up in the WTC points table, which will be different from the ICC team rankings. 

The format

Each team will play three home and three away Test series over the next two years. The number of matches in each series can vary between a minimum of two matches to a maximum of five matches.

Each series will count for 120 points, distributed over the number of matches in the series. If a team plays a two-match Test series, each Test will be attributed 60 points, and it will be 24 points each for a five-match series like the Ashes.

Not all Tests will count but only the ones identified as part of the World Test Championship. Tests involving Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan will not be part of the Test series.

Bangladesh’s series

As part of the WTC, ninth-ranked Bangladesh will play three home series and three away series during the two-year period. Of those, there will be four two-Test series -- against India (away, 2019), Pakistan (away, 2020), Australia (home, 2020) and New Zealand (home, 2020) -- and two three-Test series with Sri Lanka away in 2020 and West Indies at home in 2021. That makes a total of 14 Tests that the Tigers will play as part of the WTC.