All you need to know about the 2023-2025 ICC World Test Championship
The 2023-2025 ICC World Test Championship begins on Friday 16th June with the first Ashes Test between England and Australia at Edgbaston.
The famous series between the two sides began the inaugural Test match tournament in 2019, which coincided with the ‘modern’ introduction of names and numbers to the backs of players shirts. New Zealand won that first trophy back in 2021 when they defeated India in a six-day final at the AGEAS Bowl in Southampton.
The 2021-2023 competition was a more open tournament throughout the league stage with both South Africa and Sri Lanka believing they had a chance of making the final at different stages. Eventually, though, India, again, reached the showpiece event, where they defeated/were beaten by Australia at The Oval last week.
The idea of adding further context to cricket’s oldest and still, many believe, most prestigious format of the game was and remains a good one. The execution of the idea has drawn a fair bit of criticism due to its complexity, such is cricket. So, with that in mind, this is an explainer as to the format of the upcoming 2023-2025 cycle and the schedule with matches/series to keep an eye on…
FORMAT
In the first tournament, the original points system worked as 120 points available for each individual series. However, this was tilted in favour teams playing a two-match series. For example, a 2-0 win would earn you 120 points, whereas a 3-2 win in a five-match series would earn you just 72 points.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted and halted a lot of that campaign and the points system had to be altered to the percentage of points won – that system has remained in place for the 2021-23 tournament and will be the case for 2023-25.
Every Test match played is worth 12 points so if you win every single Test match then you have earned 100% of your points and will top the table. In the 2021-23 edition, Australia finished at the top, winning 11 and drawing five of their 19 matches. A draw is worth four points each so the Australians picked up 66.7% of the points they could have won. Just to round off the points system, a tie is worth six points apiece, though there has been just two tied Test matches in the 2,505 that have been played as of the start of the 2023-2025 ICC World Test Championship.
This format and points system isn’t perfect nor ideal but is the fairer way to accommodate different lengths of series played; especially when not everyone plays everyone.
There are nine teams in the World Test Championship with three full Test-playing members of the ICC, Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe not yet invited into the competition. Each of the nine teams, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, will play six series in total; three at home and three away, varying in length.
The top two sides at the end of the two years will play in a one-off final for the World Test Championship trophy. Now, another niche and probably needless complexity is that there are the odd series’ that are not part of the WTC, despite being within the cycle.
So, for example, England’s one-off Test against Ireland at the start of this summer or their two-match series in New Zealand in February would be effectively viewed as ‘friendlies’ or ‘exhibitions’, albeit traditionalists, and rightly so to an extent, would argue there is no such thing as a Test match ‘friendly’.
SCHEDULE
In order to distinguish between the games with points on the line and those that don’t, this is the official 2023-2025 ICC World Test Championship schedule. Any Test match or series that is played that is not on this following list does not count towards the points system or league table.
2023:
16/06 – 31/07 | England vs Australia (5 Tests)
/07 - /07 | Sri Lanka vs Pakistan (2 Tests)
/07 - /08 | West Indies vs India (2 Tests)
28/11 – 10/12 | Bangladesh vs New Zealand (2 Tests)
14/12 – 07/01 | Australia vs Pakistan (3 Tests)
/12 - /01 | South Africa vs India (2 Tests)
2024:
17/01 – 29/01 | Australia vs West Indies (2 Tests)
/01 - /02 | India vs England (5 Tests)
/02 - /02 | New Zealand vs South Africa (2 Tests)
/02 - /03 | New Zealand vs Australia (2 Tests)
/02 - /03 | Pakistan vs West Indies (2 Tests)
/02 - /03 | Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka (2 Tests)
/07 - /07 | England vs West Indies (3 Tests)
/08 - /08 | West Indies vs South Africa (2 Tests)
/08 - /09 | Pakistan vs Bangladesh (2 Tests)
/08 - /09 | England vs Sri Lanka (2 Tests)
/09 - /10 | India vs Bangladesh (2 Tests)
/09 - /10 | Sri Lanka vs New Zealand (2 Tests)
/10 - /10 | Pakistan vs England (3 Tests)
/10 - /11 | India vs New Zealand (3 Tests)
/10 - /11 | Bangladesh vs South Africa (2 Tests)
/11 - /01 | Australia vs India (5 Tests)
/11 - /12 | West Indies vs Bangladesh (2 Tests)
/11 - /12 | New Zealand vs England (3 Tests)
/11 - /12 | South Africa vs Sri Lanka (2 Tests)
/12 - /01 | South Africa vs Pakistan (2 Tests)
2025:
/01 - /02 | Sri Lanka vs Australia (2 Tests)
There will be 67 Test matches played across 27 different series'. The final is due to be played, for a third successive time, in England with Lord’s set to host the showpiece event after the AGEAS Bowl in 2021 and The Oval in 2023.
