The World Test Championship – the premier competition for cricket’s longest format – has brought added context to bilateral test cricket by making every match within a series contribute points. It’s also given a dramatic climax to the two-year cycle that reaches its conclusion in the final. As a result, it has helped to generate greater engagement with the contest and interest in the game’s most challenging format.
However, the ICC’s league structure can be improved. In a recent column for Wisden, Lawrence Booth argued that “the ICC can’t allow the championship to continue as if designed on the back of a fag packet.” Ideally, the top nine nations in the rankings should be required to play each other, home and away, over series that last at least three Tests, and positions should be determined by a points percentage system.
Currently, the ICC-recognised 10 test nations (Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh) compete in a series of matches across a league phase over four years, with the top four teams then squaring off in a playoff to decide the winner. A reserve day has been inserted into the calendar to provide cover in case of bad weather, which disrupts a scheduled final – as happened in the 2021 match at Southampton that was eventually abandoned due to Covid.
It’s hoped the addition of the reserve day can help ensure that there is no repeat of the 2021 final, where neither team managed to reach a score and the game was abandoned with Australia leading by 217 runs.
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