“I’m just not quite sure it’s entirely fit for purpose.”
That’s Greg Barclay, former ICC chair, talking in his early days in the job about why he didn’t like the World Test Championship. And though he never got around to taking a scythe to the thing - one of several aims we should be glad Barclay didn’t achieve in a gloom-laden tenure - the momentum is growing, at least among those who decide these things, that wholesale change is needed. Rumblings of a two-tiered restructure get louder by the month. As a first Lord’s final approaches, what the next edition of the tournament will look like remains in flux.
This is a phenomenon peculiar to cricket, where its most morose doom-mongerers are those who should be its biggest cheerleaders. Partly this is an affliction across the game, with a section of fans convincing themselves they are special for liking something so complex and cerebral, and therefore that such a thing could never be suitable for general consumption. But there are also nakedly financial, selfish motives. The World Test Championship succeeding, by any normal sporting metrics, is a problem for the game’s most powerful stakeholders. The 2023-25 cycle, for all that there are issues with the format and the fixtures, should be celebrated as a success by those in charge of running the sport. Instead, it’s treated as an aberration that must be dealt with.
To recap on what has been by a distance the most enthralling World Test Championship thus far: In the last WTC cycle, every team lost at least one home Test and won at least one away, with none winning all of their home series or failing to at least draw one away. Bangladesh whitewashed Pakistan in Pakistan, New Zealand blanked India in India, West Indies rumbled the Aussies at the Gabba. Sri Lanka, South Africa, Australia, India and New Zealand were all in with a shout deep into the schedule, culminating in a glorious Boxing Day feast as the Proteas recovered from 99-8 to chase 149 against Pakistan and secure their place at Lord’s, before Australia finally broke India’s resistance at the MCG to all but seal theirs. It was a glorious day of Test cricket and a good day for Test cricket, and naturally, according to those in charge of the sport, we must never see the like again.
South Africa are World Test Championship finalists! 🇿🇦
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) December 29, 2024
Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen's brilliant 51-run stand for the ninth wicket saw them across the line 👏#SAvPAK pic.twitter.com/7pffvFbq9F
“The World Test Championship should be fairer and more competitive,” ECB chair Richard Thompson told The Telegraph. “It is going to change to ensure it always encourages the best teams to reach the final and encourages other nations that want to play Test cricket, to play Test cricket.”
The rebuttal is obvious - Who exactly are “the best teams”, according to Thompson? If only there were some sort of league structure where sides played each other over a two-year span to help decide such a thing - and it’s not hard to guess that he’s talking about South Africa here, with their supposedly ‘soft’ schedule paving a path to the final. But they are more than worthy finalists. India had their chance to land a blow and failed, drawing a series in the country. A whitewash of Bangladesh is a significant triumph for the Proteas, given the Tigers’ rise in recent years; neither Australia nor England won their last series in the country. Home series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka weren’t the toughest on paper, but England were unable to clean-sweep the latter, and were beaten from 1-0 up away by the former.
Of course, the rationale barely hidden behind Thompson’s words isn’t purely, or even primarily sporting. The powers that be want a competition full of suspense, drama and intrigue, where you don’t quite know who’s going to win until the last moment, in which India are also guaranteed to make the final every time. And the first aim of the two is optional. There’s also a desire to have India, England and Australia play each other as much as possible. While there are no concrete proposals yet, one model up for discussion would see the Test game split into two tiers - not divisions, with promotion and relegation - but an insulated, exclusive club for the haves and a few others, with the rest to wither on the vine. Australia, India and England would each play one another every 18 months, rather than every two and a half years as is currently the case. It would mark a big step along the path towards Big Three domination.
There are, of course, issues with the World Test Championship as it stands. Two-Test series satisfy no one - surely a three-match rubber of four-day games would be preferable? Not everyone plays everyone, largely because India and Pakistan don’t play each other outside of world events. Could a neutral venue be used, and an extra season added to the cycle to squeeze in two more series? The one-off final can feel abrupt as well, with one collapse deciding two years of hard work. A three-game showpiece would be more fitting, and imagine a Rest of the World XI playing each finalist as a pre-final warm-up and event in itself. Sri Lanka’s and South Africa’s cricketers bemoan their fixture lists, often bereft of Test cricket for months and months. The game’s financial model forces tough decisions to be made, and the only solution ever offered is for teams to play less, or no Tests.
But more widely, the Test game is filled with good news stories. Below the Championship, Ireland have become a Test team of note, beating Afghanistan and Zimbabwe in 2024, while an enthralling Ireland-Zimbabwe Test is currently unfolding in Bulawayo. Those three, with a couple of other additions, could make for a compelling second division, and the threat of relegation would add intrigue for series between teams near the bottom of the current Championship. New Zealand’s bumper home crowds have encouraged them to add a third game to next winter’s series against West Indies, the first three-match series not involving one of the Big Three in close to a decade.
Were those in charge truly invested in the game’s growth, in cricket, and Test cricket, being a truly global sport, this is what they would be celebrating and considering. Instead, Test cricket’s quietly golden age might only prompt the door being shut on anything like it happening again.
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