World Test Championship Final 2021: ICC Revisiting 'Reserve Day' And 'Joint Winners' Playing Conditions Ahead Of The Summit Clash

Ahead of the marquee ICC World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand, the International Cricket Council is reportedly revisiting a couple of crucial clauses in the playing conditions.

The inaugural ICC World Test Championship will see Team India locks horns with New Zealand in the summit clash at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton between June 18-22.

According to a report published in the Times of India, the governing body is unsure about its original plan to declare a ‘joint-winner’ in case of a draw besides the clause of having a ‘reserve day’ to ensure minimal impact by weather.

The report says that the idea of declaring a ‘joint-winner’ is sitting well with some of the members in the ICC committee given the fact that it is the inaugural edition of the Test championship. The Committee is currently working to find a way to maximize the chances of getting a fair and square winner.

”The idea of having joint winners also doesn’t sit very well given it’s the first time a WTC final is being played. So, one has to have maximum options open to get a result out of the match. The ICC committee is working on it and it should be out this week,” an ICC source told TOI.

Previously, the ICC had decided to add June 23 as a ‘reserve day’ to ensure the minimal impact of weather. However, the condition was that less than 30 hours of cricket should have been played during the course of the five days to take the game into a reserve day.

However, the ICC has now removed the clause from its website due to some ambiguity over the hours lost due to slow overrates.

‘’The idea was to ensure that the match is played out in the 30 hours in the first five days. And the reserve day would come into play only if a total of 30 hours were not played in the first five days. That would have meant that the result had a lesser chance of being influenced by weather,” the source explained.

Also Read: I Would Have Preferred More Than Just One Match To Decide WTC Final: Kapil Dev