ICC World Test Championship
The World Test Championship will begin
on August 1, 2019, and will include nine nations participating in 71 Test matches
over two years in 27 series. Each team, made up of the world's top nine Test
teams, will play three home and three away series. In June 2021, the top two
teams will participate in the ICC World Test Championship Final in the United
Kingdom, with the victors being proclaimed World Test Champions.
The WTC was created to provide
bilateral Test cricket a context. As the world's finest teams face head to
head, every game will be crucial. For each game, points will be available. The
WTC recognises the significance of cricket's longest format and provides a
pinnacle event for it, similar to the World Cups for men and women in the ODI
and T20I formats.
The WTC was open to the top nine
ranked teams on the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings as of March 31, 2018. The
WTC features teams from Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand,
Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies. Starting in August 2019, the WTC will be
played throughout many continents over a two-year period. The games will be played
in the same manner as any other bilateral series, but with the extra backdrop
of a competition and a single champion team. The nine teams will compete in 27
series, with the winner being determined after 71 Test matches. In June 2021,
the final will be held.
Six of the eight probable opponents
will be played by each of the nine teams in the WTC, with three series at home
and three series away. The number of matches in each series can range from two
to five, with the number of matches agreed upon by the two opposing teams prior
to the commencement of the competition. The
WTC's first cycle will consist solely of five-day Test matches, with day/night
matches permitted if mutually agreed upon by the rival teams.
Each team competes in six series, with
each series offering a total of 120 points. These points will be distributed
evenly among the amount of games in each series. A win in each Test match will
earn 60 points in a two-match series, whereas a win in each Test match will
earn 40 points in a three-match series. A tie will receive half of the points
for a win, while a draw will receive a third of the points for a win. Due to
the Covid-19 epidemic, the ICC changed the WTC points system in November 2020.
New Zealand defeats India to become Test world champions, and they
are no longer under the radar.
Even the English weather was unable to
crush the hearts of New Zealanders once more. Two years after almost missing
out on the ODI World Cup without actually losing in the final, New Zealand won
their first world crown, the inaugural World Test Championship, in magnificent
late-evening sunshine. On the reserve day, the sixth of the match, which
featured only three-and-a-half days of actual cricket due to terrible weather,
it was long past regulation closing time.
But what a game of cricket. In such a
short amount of time, two exceptionally high-quality sides played in incredibly
difficult batting conditions to produce a fascinating cricket match. If New
Zealand was going to win, they needed to be extremely efficient, consistent,
and skilled, and they did so just in time.
New Zealand needed eight wickets on
the last day - the ICC guaranteed 98 overs weather permitting, whatever of the
over rates - before they could bat and knock off the runs conceded plus the 32
India had at the end of day five. With meticulous preparation and execution of
those strategies by a persistent attack, they were able to take a wicket every
five and a half overs. A 139-run goal in
53 overs wasn't exactly easy: the previous three innings had averaged 2.35,
2.5, and 2.32 per over, respectively, and India wasn't exactly laying
everything on the table. They had only achieved 44 in 17.2 overs by the time R
Ashwin took off both openers. A poorer batting team may have taken a chance and
handed India a window, but the old duo of Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson
guided them to victory with a patient yet urgent 96-run partnership in 28.3
overs.
There was no space for error or
further weather interruption because the situation was so tight. When things
became tough, New Zealand's thoughts may have turned to the cricket gods. To
the boundary countback, all the near misses, the one hour of rain on the fifth
morning that came out of nowhere (it didn't rain in many other Southampton
neighbourhoods), and Rishabh Pant's dropped catch on the sixth day, which made
it too close for comfort as New Zealand fought for the final wickets. India got off to a shaky start with the new
ball before Ashwin injected some life into their spirits by dismissing the
openers, both left-handed hitters. Devon Conway was lbw to the straighter one
after Tom Latham was stumped off a crisp offbreak. Six overs generated four
runs during that stretch of play, bringing the asking rate to an even three per
over for the final 31 overs. It wasn't
just about the asking price. If you chased too hard and lost sight of the
prize, there was a good risk that a collapse would occur, allowing India to
re-enter the game. New Zealand aimed to score runs more quickly without putting
themselves in a position where they'd have to fight for a draw.
Under this pressure, Taylor and Williamson found the right
balls. The flagging Shami, bowling his eighth over out of 23 in the innings,
provided the first leeway with balls short and wide. Taylor then took Ashwin on
and cleared wide mid-on. Now they had the flow in the innings, and all their
experience and expertise came to the fore as they first steadied the ship and
then saw it home at 6.35pm, ironically, in bright sunlight.
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