After years of going back and forth about whether to cancel the ICC Champions Trophy and replace it with the Test Championship instead, finally, in October 2017 ICC announced a Test league, which would run over a period of two years and involve the top nine Test-playing nations in the ICC rankings. The top two teams after that designated period would then contest a World Test Championship Final between them.
The current, which is the first ICC World Test Championship started after the conclusion of ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019, that is from 1st of August, with the start of the first game of Ashes series in England and ended on 31st March 2021.
Well, there was also a lot of confusion about the criteria to choose the two best teams out of the lot. At the start of the league in 2019, it was decided that the two teams to have more points at the end of the decided time period will get entry into the finals, which was fair because all the teams were supposed to play the same number of series. But due to the ongoing pandemic situation around the world, almost 8-9 months of international cricket was wiped away in 2020 and that left everyone thinking as to how the two finalists should be decided as the number of series contested was different for every team and counting the points alone wouldn’t have been fair. That’s when the percentage of points (PCT) entered the discussion.
What’s PCT and how are the points calculated?
The ICC committee decided not to count in the matches that were canceled by the pandemic and instead count the points only from the matches contested.
So, to bring in a little fairness to the system, ICC brought in the Percentage of Points (PCT) system which is the total percentage of points won out of the total number of points contested.
So, each series was assigned with a fixed number of points (120), no matter how many numbers of matches the teams play in that series. So, for example, in a four-match series, points are distributed as, 30 for a win, 15 each for both the teams if it’s a tie, and 10 each for a draw. The same reason why when India recently defeated England by a scoreline of 3-1 earlier this last month in February, India received 90 points in total whereas England went home with 30 points against their name.
So, in this case, the PCT for the Indian team for this particular series was 75%.
Teams qualified for the first ever final and their record in the competition
When the international cricket resumed after a long covid-break in December, we had multiple qualification scenarios available and about 3-4 teams had a fair chance of still making it to the WTC final. Australia was leading the table based on a superior PCT and India a close second. The Border-Gavaskar trophy between India and Australia literally shaped India’s road to the finals, as well as blurred out any chances Australia had. India received 70 points home from that series alone, which no one had predicted and on the other hand, Australia had to settle for a total of 40 points and also lost some crucial ones due to the slow over-rate throughout the series.
Meanwhile, New Zealand beat Pakistan convincingly in their home series and clinched the first spot for time being.
The cancellation of Australia’s tour of South Africa secured their participation in the first-ever WTC finals For Australia, it was a must-win series after their disappointing loss at home to India. South Africa on the other hand had no chances of making it to the inaugural test championship final after a few dismal performances in the pre-pandemic series.
India’s next challenge was to host England at home next, and in any case, if the series gets drawn, Australia would’ve still made it to the final. The task for England was difficult since the only way they could qualify was by winning the series either 3-1 or 4-0 which was a monumental task to start with.
India knew they just had to secure the series 2-1, 3-1, or 4-0 and that’s exactly what they did, lost the first game which is becoming sort of a tradition just to come back stronger and win the series 3-1. This series win against England secured the spot in the first-ever ICC World Championship finals for India and also secured the number-1 spot in the ICC Test rankings for the fourth successive year.
| MATCHES | ||||||
| TEAMS | PCT (%) | SERIES PLAYED | TOTAL POINTS | WON | LOST | DRAWN |
| INDIA | 72.2 | 6 | 520 | 12 | 4 | 1 |
| NEW ZEALAND | 70.0 | 5 | 420 | 7 | 4 | 0 |
Head-to-head of the finalists
India and New Zeeland have faced each other only five times in Test cricket, since 2016. Fair to say, there is nothing to pick between the two. India won their home series 3-0 back in 2016 which wasn’t a part of the WTC. The series was completely one-sided, as one may expect.
On the contrary, New Zealand is the only team to beat India in a series in this ongoing test championship. It was contested during the second week of February in 2020 when India toured New Zealand for a 2-match test series, which the hosts won comprehensively 2-0.
The two sides haven’t played since in any format and it’ll be interesting to see who comes on top at the Hampshire Bowl in Southampton in June.
The conditions could be a little bit in New Zealand’s favor as the conditions in England pitches and weather could come in handy for their pacers, as they have caused a fair bit of damage to the Indian batsmen in similar conditions, back home in New Zealand. But India, on the other hand, is slowly coming into their own as a competitive side in overseas tests and they sure have the side whether it’s bowling or batting to come out on top.
Venue and conditions
Ever since the tournament started, Lords was decided to be the venue for the World Test Championship final. The decision to host the finals in Southampton in fact came right after the conclusion of the India-England series as the pandemic situation is still to improve in Britain and players need to quarantine for 14 days and stay in their bio-bubbles which is easier to accommodate in Southampton.
The Hampshire Bowl in Southampton previously hosted West Indies for a Test series in the summer of 2020 and thus has better facilities and experience in creating a safe and sound bio-bubble environment. It wasn’t just the world’s first bio-secure bubbled venue but offers incredible facilities for the players to train and showcase their best games. So, the decision has been made by ECB and ICC by keeping player’s utmost safety and security in mind as well as not compromising on the facilities.
Whether the crowd will be allowed or not for the event, depends on the UK government’s decision on the lockdown, but if given a possibility, a limited number of seats could be kept on sale for the fans.
What if the final ends in a draw?
Will the trophy be shared between the kiwis and team India if the game ends in a draw? The answer is yes.
For a test match, ICC has allotted a total of 30 playing hours to be completed within 5-days. If that does not happen and we lose some of the regulation playing time, there is a reserve day that will be used for the completion of the match.
Losing time is pretty much possible as in England, the chances of rain in the second-third week of June are always high.
Is the tournament schedule and format sustainable? How can we ensure all the teams get equal opportunities to showcase their talent and qualify?
It’s a welcome change, for the players, for the fans of the game.
Test cricket is always considered to be the toughest format of the game and rightly so. It tests every player’s mental and physical limit, challenges them, and continuously asks questions. It separates the boys from the men as the old saying goes. Off-course skill plays a huge role but resilience and the ability to fight and not give up is the reason some succeed more than others.
The format looks good on the paper, and the only thing which needs to improve is the number of games or series played by every nation should be equal and they should get a chance to play against every opponent at least once in the allotted period. That is tough to execute, and I’m sure this is what ICC and the fans also want and maybe we’ll get to see some changes going forward.
The lockdown in 2020 affected the tournament format big time but I guess the two strongest teams over the period have made it through to the finals, so it’ll an exciting one for sure and will set the tone for years to come for test cricket.