The Ashes might have stolen the limelight given the excitement in Leeds, but over in Sri Lanka, the hosts and New Zealand were having their own keen contest.
After Dimuth Karunaratne’s century helped Sri Lanka to a gritty win in the first Test in Galle, New Zealand fought back in fading light to come away with an improbable win in Colombo on Monday, August 26.
The series was a thriller, just not a typical one. We look at the takeaways.
Under Karunaratne, Sri Lanka have turned things around
The idea behind the World Test Championship is to give context to Test cricket, something larger than bilateral wins to fight for, and the effect of the tournament was evident in Colombo. Almost every day of the Test was affected by rain to some degree, meaning by the time the fifth day began, New Zealand were still batting in their first innings.
However, with 60 points up for grabs and having conceded that many with their loss in the first match, New Zealand just had to fight for a win. And so they did, with Colin de Grandhomme powering New Zealand to a 187-run lead before the bowlers had a real crack at Sri Lanka. The home side were reduced to 33-5 by lunch on the final day, and with three wickets needed heading into the final hour, and with light fading all too quickly, New Zealand somehow managed to nip out Sri Lanka’s lower order.
It made for exhilarating Test cricket, and the ICC will be delighted.
The points system will take getting used to
World Test Championship Points Table:
India – 60
New Zealand – 60
Sri Lanka – 60
Australia – 32
England – 32
West Indies – 0#WIvInd #Ashes2019 #SLvNZ— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) August 26, 2019
For those used to straightforward league tables, the WTC standings will make for awkward viewing. India lead the table with 60 points, having played and won just the one match. All of New Zealand, Sri Lanka, England and Australia have similar number of victories. But while New Zealand and Sri Lanka are level on points with India, both Australia and England – who have played three matches in all – have just 32 to show for their efforts. What’s going on here?
The ICC devised the WTC points system by adding more weight to series victories. A win in a two-match series will see the winning team awarded 60 points, while in a five-match series, the maximum points available per match is 24. However, the maximum available points for a team, irrespective of the length of a series, remains 120. Is that unfair on teams that play longer series? There’s another way to look at it: the teams playing two-match series also stand to lose 60 points with each loss.
Eventually, with each team playing three series at home and three away, it will all work out – or is supposed to. It will make for a wonky table in the interim, though.
