India | Teams with most wins in Test Cricket
India. Credit: Getty Images

ICC World Test Championship, the first of its kind, will get underway when arch-rivals England and Australia go up against each other in the first Test of the Ashes series starting from August 1 at Edgbaston. International Cricket Council (ICC) has come up with this tournament to revive Test cricket which has lost its charm in the middle of limited-overs cricket. India will begin their campaign in the Test championship when they play West Indies in the two-match series starting from August 22.

In this article, we will take you through all the details that you need to know about the upcoming ICC World Test Championship.

Why do we need the ICC World Test Championship?

With the bilateral series losing its charm among the fans, ICC has come up with the championship to make it more engaging for the supporters and lovers of this format of the game. The apex body felt that the introduction of the ICC World Test Championship will also give meaning to the bilateral series as the points accumulated from those matches will help them secure a place in the final at the end of two years. Moreover, it will also give a World champions much like the other two formats.

ICC World Test Championship - Everything You Need To Know About The Tournament
Ashes.

How many teams will take part in the ICC World Test Championship?

The top nine teams in the ICC Test Rankings will participate in the two-year long competition. Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, and Ireland will not feature in the inaugural tournament.

How will the championship work?

Each country will play six series — three at home and three away — against mutually chosen opponents over the two-year cycle. Thus, all teams will not play against each other. A series will contain a minimum of two and a maximum of five Tests. Therefore, all sides will not play an equal number of matches.

But every series will have 120 points, irrespective of the number of Tests. A team can accumulate a maximum of 720 points over the two-year cycle. As a result, two teams with the maximum points will progress through to the finals of the competition.

How does the point system work?

Each series, irrespective of the number of the matches will have 120 points up for grabs. The team will earn points for Test results and not for winning the series. So the 120 points will be split equally among all the Tests in a series — in a five-match series, 20% (or 24 points) will be available each match, as against a two-match series in which 50% (or 60 points) will be up for grabs in each game. A tie will be worth half the points for a win and a draw will earn a third of the points for a victory.

New Zealand vs Bangladesh 2019: 2nd Test, Wellington - Day 4 Review
New Zealand. Credits – Twitter

Here is the table to make the ICC World Test Championship points system simpler for the fans:

Matches in Series Win Tie Draw Loss
2 60 30 20 0
3 40 20 13.3 0
4 30 15 10 0
5 24 12 8 0

Also read: Sourav Ganguly Criticises Selectors, Says It’s Not About Making All Happy

Will there be Test matches outside the ICC World Test Championship?

England tour of New Zealand for two Tests this November will not be included in the competition. Interestingly, these two sides don’t meet each other in the championship. Test matches between Afghanistan and Ireland which are on the Future Tour Program will also not be a part of the two-year-long tournament. ICC has banned Zimbabwe, so their future is uncertain.

What will happen if the final ends in a draw?

If the final of the ICC World Test Championship ends in a tie or a draw, the team that finished on top of the table in the two-year league cycle will be crowned the champions. This rule is more logical than the boundary count rule which helped England walk away with their maiden ICC World Cup Trophy earlier this month.

Here is the full schedule of the ICC World Test Championship:

ICC Test Championship 2019-21- Full Schedule

 

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