The International Cricket Council officially launched the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) on July 29, 2019.
The championship kicks off on August 1, when England host Australia in a five-match Test series. The WTC will witness the top nine Test teams in the world – Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, competing in 71 Test matches across 27 series.
Given the number of matches, the championship will be played over two years. The final will be played in June 2021 in England between the two top teams. Although Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe are considered Test playing nations, they are not a part of the championship in this cycle.
Geoff Allardice, ICC’s General Manager - Cricket Operations, commented, “The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup this summer showed just how important it is for every game to count and for the world’s best teams to go head-to-head. The World Test Championship will bring relevance and context to bilateral Test cricket over the next two years, creating a pinnacle event for the five-day format, just as the World Cups for men and women do in the ODI and T20I formats.”
“Test cricket is the pinnacle of our sport,” said England’s leading test wicket-taker, James Anderson. “It is the very essence of cricket and the majority of players want to strive to play the purest form of the game. The ICC World Test Championship is another brilliant initiative for the sport, adding context and relevance to every Test series. Every Test matters, but even more so now.”
“We are awaiting the ICC World Test Championship with great enthusiasm as it adds context to the longest format of the game,” said India’s skipper, Virat Kohli. “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.”
The moment you realise #WTC21 is beginning in 3 days... 👀 pic.twitter.com/HppJVUWnrR
— ICC (@ICC) July 29, 2019
Each team will play three home and three away series. The point system gives each series a bandwidth of 120 points which is equally distributed over the number of matches in a series. A two-match series will mean 60 points for each Test while a three-match series will give 40 points to each Test match. A tie will be 50% of the points available, whilst a draw will be a 3:1 points ratio.
Read: A detailed guide to the World Test championship
The matches will be played like a bilateral series keeping in mind the rules of the WTC and the added nuance of a competition. However, to keep the competition exciting, the number of matches in each series can vary between a minimum of two matches, to a maximum of five.
The first cycle of the WTC consists of only five-day matches and will include day-night matches, subject to bilateral and mutual agreement between the opponents. However, the catch is that only the matches identified as part of the WTC will be counted towards the championship.
The ICC will take charge to see that the rules of the game are followed adequately, and the conduct of cricket is maintained, by way of providing match officials.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Saeed Khan
