The ICC World Test Championship (WTC) is a league competition to find a champion in Test cricket. The league competition runs for a period of two years having designated test series. The top two teams in the league standings qualify for the final. The ICC decides which test series are part of the WTC cycle in those two years.  

The WTC is in line with other championships conducted by the International Cricket Council (ICC) such as the ODI and T20 World Cups to find a champion in the respective format of the game. The Test championship provides context for each match as there are points to grab to climb on the ICC standings. The championship made the matches more result oriented.

The idea of WTC was conceived in 2009. The idea was scrapped because of logistical reasons. The WTC was reintroduced in the current format in 2017 bringing the top 9 test-playing nations to play the league.

The first ICC World Test Championship cycle ran from 2019 to 2021. 61 Test matches were played in the cycle involving nine teams. India and New Zealand qualified for the final. New Zealand won the WTC final beating India by 8 wickets at Southampton, England. The WTC final win was New Zealand’s first ICC trophy since 2000. The winner of the WTC gets a Test Mace and a lucrative prize money of 1.8 million dollars.

Nine teams participate in the WTC cycle. Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies - are the participating teams.

ICC adopted a new point system as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the originally scheduled series in 2020. The new system changed from the old ‘points in each series to the new ‘percentage of points’ (PCT) earned by teams. The PCT is the percentage of points won out of the total number of points contested by each team. According to the new system 12 points are awarded for each win. In case of a tied match, 6 points are awarded to both teams. For a drawn match both teams get 4 points each.

While all the teams may not play the same number of test matches in a WTC cycle, they play six WTC series - three at home and three away.

Australia and India – the toppers of the points table – will play the final match - touted as the Ultimate Test. India and New Zealand played the 2021 WTC final at Southampton from 18 to 23 June. India lost the match to New Zealand by 8 wickets. This is the second time India has qualified for the WTC final coming second in the points table. Australia finished at the top of the ICC World Test Championship 2021-23 standings with 11 wins, five draws and three defeats (19 matches) which earned them 152 points and a PCT of 66.67. India collected 127 points – 10 wins, three draws, five defeats (18 matches) a 58.8 PCT and second position in the team standings.

ICC WORLD TEST CHAMPIONSHIP

POINTS TABLE (2021-2023)

The Oval, London will host the WTC Final from 7 to 11 June. There is a reserve day on 12 June. The final of the 2025 edition will take place at Lord’s.

Both finalists Australia and India have announced their squads for the WTC Final. Pat Cummins will captain the Australia side and Rohit Sharma will captain India.

Australia: Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Josh Inglis, Todd Murphy, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner.

_Reserves: Mitch Marsh, Matt Renshaw_

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ravichandran Ashwin, KS Bharat, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadakt, Umesh Yadav.

_Reserves: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav_

Any changes to the squad can now only be made with the approval of the Event Technical Committee.

The total prize pool for the ICC World Test Championship 2021-23 is $ 3.8 million, the same as the 2019-21 cycle. The winner of the WTC Final will take home a purse of $ 1.6 million while the runner-up will get $ 800,000. 

All nine participating teams will have a share in the prize pool. South Africa - number 3 in the WTC points standing – will take home $400,00. England and Sri Lanka who are number 4 and 5 in the WTC standing will take home $350,000 and $200,000 respectively. The remaining teams will get $100,000 each.