The World Test Championship final which is scheduled to be held in June 2021, at Lords, remains on course to be played at the proposed time. The same was confirmed by cricket’s apex body to Reuters on Tuesday. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the cricket schedule for this year. Along with red-ball fixtures, the white-ball fixtures have been either cancelled or postponed by the respective boards after ICC monitoring the developments.
Meanwhile, the points for the postponed series has been shared by the playing teams involved. India is topping the World Test Championship points table with 360 points at the moment. Australia (296) and England (292) are placed second and third respectively. India will restart their journey in the championship again, as they tour down under to play a Test series against Australia.
“The planning is still in progress. There is likely to be more clarity in the coming days once all stakeholders are aligned. There will be an announcement on this soon” a spokesman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) said of the WTC final, without elaborating how the point system would be reworked.
Earlier this year, the ICC postponed the Men’s T20 World Cup to 2021 due to the prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The Idea Behind Launching The World Test Championship
The idea behind launching the World Test Championship last year was to give bilateral Test cricket its due respect. The format was falling behind the limelight with T20 cricket hogging it. The format of WTC has brought back life to the red-ball format, with teams fighting against each other to win the championship now. Originally, nine top-ranked sides were scheduled to play six series over two years with the top two making the final at Lord’s.
Meanwhile, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive Tom Harrison last week underlined the logistical challenge of hosting the WTC final.
“We are talking about a COVID environment, and when you put COVID into a negotiation like this, it changes everything. If you are taking part in that fixture and you have potentially two neutral teams playing a world final in the UK, I’m pretty sure you’d want to know you are safe and protected when it comes to the health environment you are heading into” he said.
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