The 2019–21 ICC World Test Championship is the inaugural edition of the ICC World Test Championship of Test cricket. It started from 1 August 2019 with the first Test of the 2019 Ashes series and will finish with a final at Lord’s in England in June 2021.
It comes nearly a decade after the International Cricket Council (ICC) first approved the idea for a World Test Championship in 2010, and following two cancelled attempts to hold the inaugural competition in 2013 and 2017.
It features nine of the twelve Test-playing nations, each of whom will play a Test series against six of the other eight teams. Each series consists of between two and five matches, so although all teams will play six series (three at home and three away), they will not play the same number of Tests. Each team will be able to score a maximum of 120 points from each series and the two teams with the most points at the end of the league stage will contest the final. In the case of a draw or a tie in the final, the two teams playing the final will be declared joint champions.
Some of the Test series in this Championship are part of a longer ongoing series, such as the 2019 Ashes series. Also, some of these nine teams will play additional Test matches during this period which are not part of this Championship, as part of the ICC Future Tours Programme for 2018–23, mainly to give games to the three Test-playing sides not taking part in this competition. On 29 July 2019, the ICC officially launched the World Test Championship.
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted on the Championship, with several rounds of matches being postponed. In April 2020, following a Chief Executives’ meeting, the ICC announced that it would look at the future of the scheduling at a later date, once there is a better understanding of the impact of the pandemic on cricket.
Source – Wikipedia
Points Format
The ICC decided that the same number of points will be available from each series, regardless of series length, so that countries that play fewer Tests are not disadvantaged. It also decided that points will not be awarded for series results, but for match results only. These will be split equally between all the matches in the series, regardless of whether or not a match is a dead rubber. In a five-match series, therefore, 20% of the points will be available each match, while in a two-match series, 50% of the points will be available each match.
Each series will therefore carry a maximum of 120 points with points distributed as follows (there will be no points for a loss):
| Matches | Win | Tie | Draw |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 60 | 30 | 20 |
| 3 | 40 | 20 | 13 |
| 4 | 30 | 15 | 10 |
| 5 | 24 | 12 | 8 |
Participating Teams
The nine full members of the ICC who will participate are:
| Australia | India | South Africa |
| Bangladesh | New Zealand | Sri Lanka |
| England | Pakistan | West Indies |
The three full members of the ICC who will not participate are:
| Afghanistan | Ireland | Zimbabwe |
These are the three lowest-ranked full members of the ICC. They have been included in the ICC Future Tours Programme; they will play a number of Test matches during this period against Championship participants and each other (12 each for Ireland and Afghanistan, 21 for Zimbabwe) but these will have no bearing on the Championship.
Points Table
| Team | Series Played | Matches Played | Won | Tied | Drawn | Lost | Points | Series Wins | RPW |
| India | 4 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 360 | 3 | 2.011 |
| Australia | 3 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 296 | 2 | 1.604 |
| England | 4* | 13 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 266 | 2 | 1.182 |
| New Zealand | 3 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 180 | 1 | 0.883 |
| Pakistan | 3* | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 140 | 1 | 0.984 |
| Sri Lanka | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 80 | 0 | 0.589 |
| West Indies | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 40 | 0 | 0.527 |
| South Africa | 2 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 24 | 0 | 0.521 |
| Bangladesh | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.351 |
Table Data: International Cricket Council – Last Updated 02/08/2020
The top two teams will advance to the final to be played at Lord’s on 10–14 June 2021.
If two teams are tied on points, the team that won more series shall be ranked higher. If teams are still equal, then the team with the higher runs per wicket ratio shall be ranked higher. The runs per wicket ratio is calculated as runs scored per wicket lost, divided by, runs conceded per wicket taken.
Fixtures & Results
| Date | Home Team | Away Team | Result |
| 1 Aug 2019 | England | Australia | Australia Won by 251 Runs |
| 14 Aug 2019 | England | Australia | Match Drawn |
| 14 Aug 2019 | Sri Lanka | New Zealand | Sri Lanka Won by 6 Wickets |
| 22 Aug 2019 | England | Australia | England Won by 1 Wicket |
| 22 Aug 2019 | Sri Lanka | New Zealand | New Zealand Won by an Innings and 65 Runs |
| 22 Aug 2019 | West Indies | India | India Won by 318 Runs |
| 30 Aug 2019 | West Indies | India | India Won by 257 Runs |
| 4 Sept 2019 | England | Australia | Australia Won by 183 Runs |
| 12 Sept 2019 | England | Australia | England Won by 135 Runs |
| 2 Oct 2019 | India | South Africa | India Won by 203 Runs |
| 10 Oct 2019 | India | South Africa | India Won by an Innings and 137 Runs |
| 19 Oct 2019 | India | South Africa | India Won by an Innings and 202 Runs |
| 14 Nov 2019 | India | Bangladesh | India Won by an Innings and 130 Runs |
| 21 Nov 2019 | Australia | Pakistan | Australia Won by an Innings and 5 Runs |
| 22 Nov 2019 | India | Bangladesh | India Won by an Innings and 46 Runs |
| 29 Nov 2019 | Australia | Pakistan | Australia Won by an Innings and 48 Runs |
| 11 Dec 2019 | Pakistan | Sri Lanka | Match Drawn |
| 12 Dec 2019 | Australia | New Zealand | Australia Won by 296 Runs |
| 19 Dec 2019 | Pakistan | Sri Lanka | Pakistan Won by 263 Runs |
| 26 Dec 2019 | Australia | New Zealand | Australia Won by 247 Runs |
| 26 Dec 2019 | South Africa | England | South Africa Won by 107 Runs |
| 3 Jan 2020 | Australia | New Zealand | Australia Won by 279 Runs |
| 3 Jan 2020 | South Africa | England | England Won by 189 Runs |
| 16 Jan 2020 | South Africa | England | England Won by an Innings and 53 Runs |
| 24 Jan 2020 | South Africa | England | England Won by 191 Runs |
| 7 Feb 2020 | Pakistan | Bangladesh | Pakistan Won by an Innings and 44 Runs |
| 21 Feb 2020 | New Zealand | India | New Zealand Won by 10 Wickets |
| 29 Feb 2020 | New Zealand | India | New Zealand Won by 7 Wikets |
| 8 Jul 2020 | England | West Indies | West Indies Won by 4 Wickets |
| 16 Jul 2020 | England | West Indies | England Won by 113 Runs |
| 24 Jul 2020 | England | West Indies | England Won by 269 Runs |
| 5 Aug 2020 | England | Pakistan | England Won by 3 Wickets |
| 13 Aug 2020 | England | Pakistan | TBD |
| 21 Aug 2020 | England | Pakistan | TBD |
Table Data: International Cricket Council – Last Updated 02/08/2020