ICC announce schedule for inaugural ‘World Test Championship’

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The long awaited announcement for the inaugural ‘World Test Championship’ was finally done by the International Cricket Council on Wednesday June 20.

The tournament is aimed at bringing more context to bilateral Test cricket, will be played from July 15, 2019 to April 30, 2021.

The nine top-ranked sides in the world will compete in the tournament, with each side playing six series on a home-and-away basis against mutually selected opponents in the two-year cycle.

The top two sides will then contest in the ICC World Test Championship final in June 2021.

The tournament will begin soon after the ICC ODI World cup 2019. The Ashes in England will kickstart the event. At the same time WestIndies are supposed to tour India and New Zealand are to host Srilanka, both in July next year, making a hectic start to the new tournament.

Current ICC Test rankings:
1. India – 125 points
2. South Africa – 112 points
3. Australia – 106 points
4. New Zealand – 102 points
5. England – 97 points
6. Srilanka – 94 points
7. Pakistan – 88 points
8. Bangladesh – 75 points
9. West Indies – 67 points
10. Zimbabwe – 2 points