Amid all the naysaying about climate change or the fate of rhinos, there’s another issue affecting cricket that’s been less widely publicized – and it’s a real stinker. The ICC’s sticking-plaster approach to the World Test Championship is a flawed mess that should be abandoned. That’s the conclusion of this year’s edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, which branded this week’s WTC final between Australia and South Africa “a shambles masquerading as a showpiece.”
The WTC is a nine-nation tournament contested by full members (Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe) of the International Cricket Council, which governs the game’s longest format. It is played in two-year cycles.
During that time, teams are ranked according to their performance in a series of games against other nations that are held over varying lengths of time. The results of those matches are then added together to form a team’s overall ranking, which is based on a percentage of total points won. Teams earn 12 points for a win, four for a draw, and zero for a loss. They can also lose points for bowling too slowly – which happened to England in the WTC’s first cycle, when they were deducted 19 points for three slow over-rates.
The system is skewed in that the top five countries, which are deemed to be the best at playing Test cricket, will play each other home and away in series of three or more tests, with each match counting toward the rankings. This is not how leagues for other sports are structured. Booth wants the duration of the qualification cycle to be doubled, and for the nine ranked teams to play each other in home and away series of at least four tests.
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