Nathan Lyon, Australia‘s spinner, has come up with a desire that the World Test Championship (WTC) final should be an ongoing series of three matches instead of just one match. The ICC recently released an official announcement through which it revealed that the WTC final of 2023-25 will take place from June 11 to 15 at Lord’s Cricket Ground.
WTC was founded in 2019 aiming at giving bilateral test matches and series more meanings or reasons for being played within two years. While New Zealand beat India in the very first WCTF held in 2021, Australia reversed this result by thrashing India in the 2023 final just like their neighbours across the Tasman Sea did.
Lyon spoke during a recent ICC interview about this:
“One thing I would like to see, I’d like to see the World Test Championship Final potentially in a three-match series. That may become a little bit better because you potentially can lose using a Test match in one session where [in a three-match series] it may allow teams to bounce back all your show their dominance and win 3-0. We’re pretty time-poor anyway and that’s going to be a challenge but that’s one thing I would change.”
Lyon also added that each of these countries including the UK, Australia and India can hold a match for the WTC finals even though logistics may act as a hindrance.
“You potentially could go one in England, one in India, one in Australia, so you have all different conditions, but obviously, the timing of that changes everything. I don’t think we’re going to get on the MCG in the middle of August, just putting it out there,” added Lyon.
Two of India’s stalwarts in the game Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have earlier urged for the WTC final to be played in three matches. Furthermore, during the 2021-2023 WTC season, Lyon managed to take the most wickets with 88 dismissals in 20 Tests at an average of 26.12.
“To me, the World Test Championship is akin to the World Cup” – Nathan Lyon
The World Test Championship is, according to Nathan Lyon, similar to a World Cup in the sense that it requires consistent performance over an extended period for any team to become a champion. At present, Australia ranks second on the WTC standings table for 2023-25 after India where these two nations seem destined to once again meet as they did in the 2023 final.
“It’s massive, but I feel like the World Test Championship for me is like the World Cup and that’s a genuine big World Cup. When you are competing against the best for long periods of time over a two-year period, you have to be good for the whole lot.”
“It’s not tournament play. You can’t just be scraping into the semi-finals and losing two games or what not. You’ve got to be consistent over the two years of the cycle,” Nathan Lyon said in the same interview.
Australia’s upcoming Test series is an exciting five-match home contest against India, beginning in Perth on November 22.
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