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India and New Zealand will lock horns in the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) from 18 June 2021 at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton as per WTC final schedule.
India started their journey in the WTC with a bang, securing whitewashes in the first three series they played. Virat Kohli and co came undone in New Zealand, though, getting thrashed two-nil.
With the COVID-19 pandemic leading to the cancellation of quite a few series, the qualification criteria got changed to a percentage system, and India had to wait until their last Test assignment to secure their berth in the WTC final and thus India quad for WTC final are gearing themselves up for the final showdown.
New Zealand, meanwhile, had a rather ordinary start to their WTC campaign, drawing their away series against Sri Lanka, which was followed by a three-nil series defeat in Australia. However, Kane Williamson and co turned the corner on home soil, bagging 100% points against India, West Indies and Pakistan.
The cancellation of their away series against Bangladesh and Australia’s refusal to travel to South Africa due to a surge in COVID-19 cases in February-March, helped the New Zealand squad for WTC final qualify for the final, based on percentage points secured in WTC points table.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) had introduced the World Test Championship (WTC) in 2019 to give the Test format more context. The first edition of the tournament garnered good interest, as fans not only monitored their team’s progress but also keenly kept track of other series that could potentially impact their team’s chances.
Although the WTC is a very interesting concept, it has a few flaws that need to be looked into. To name a few, all the participating nations do not play against each other over a WTC cycle, the number of points for a win differs according to the length of the series. The scheduling is inconsistent; by the time West Indies played their second series, India had already played four.
On that note, let's take a look at a few changes that could be implemented in the next cycle of the WTC (2021-2023) to make the competition more interesting and fairer to all the participating teams.
#1 Standardising the series length to three Test matches
A few days ago, Stuart Broad made a pretty valid point with regards to the WTC points system. He questioned how would the Ashes Test series between England and Australia, which comprises five Tests, be worth the same as a two-match contest between India and Bangladesh.
While the opponents involved should not be a discussing point, the length of the Test series is definitely something to ponder upon. Under the current system, a win in a five-match series fetches just 24 points, while a victory in a two-match series gives the winning team a whopping 60 points.
The difference in points is significant and makes the task of qualification quite arduous for teams having long Test series in the calendar. In the 2019-2021 WTC cycle, England played the most Test matches (21), while Bangladesh played a meagre seven.
As such, the length of the series could be made standard, with each series of the WTC cycle comprising three Tests each. Thus, all the teams would play an equal number of matches (18) in the cycle, and the points allotted for every win would be consistent (40 points).
Adding one extra Test to every two-Test series should not be a big problem if it brings parity to the WTC concept. Marquee Test series like the Ashes, India vs England, India vs Australia could continue to be four or five-Test affairs with only the first three Tests constituting the WTC cycle.
There have been a couple of Test series between England and New Zealand outside the WTC in the 2019-21 cycle. Hence having a few Test matches that would have no WTC points should not be a problem, as teams would be well aware of the same in advance.
The proposed system would also mean an added exposure to the lower-ranked teams like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and West Indies, who generally don't play much Test cricket.
#2 WTC should reward outstanding team performances with 'Golden Badge'
While judging the quality of a team in the international Test arena, the ability to win away from home is always a major deciding factor.
The South African team did not lose a single Test series overseas between 2006 and 2015, something that was lauded by a lot of experts and fans alike. In the current WTC cycle, India and England won two away series apiece, which included four and six Test victories, respectively.
These wins were rated highly, as they came in tough alien conditions, but that did not reflect in the WTC points table. Thus, there is a need to incorporate changes in the points system to reward away wins.
The term 'Golden Badge' could be introduced to reward teams for overseas Test wins. Similarly, victories by huge margins like innings win, win by more than 200 runs, win by ten wickets, etc., should earn the winning team a 'Golden Badge'.
Whenever a team accumulates four 'Golden Badges', they would get a bonus of 20 points. Having this system would mean that only consistent performances would get rewarded. If a team achieves a one-off away or huge win, it would not get rewarded with bonus points.
This system could be put into place only if the number of matches played by every team is the same, though.
#3 More points for a draw
In the current WTC points system, in the case of drawn games, both the competing teams receive one-third the total allotted points for a win, while the remaining one-third points go to waste.
A hard-fought draw, like the one India earned in Sydney in January this year, was as good as a win. Hence, draws must be treated as a 'result' and valued more. The current system does not reward teams enough for draws, although producing one requires hard toil for five days.
Ideally, both teams getting an equal share of the points would be an easy distribution. But if the ICC feels that it is way too much for a game in which no team triumphed, the current 1:1:1 points distribution ratio (Team 1: Team 2: Null) could be changed to 2:2:1.
In such a scenario, for a standard three-Test series, where each Test carries a value of 40, teams would earn 16 points for draws instead of the usual 13.
#4 Over-rate offences should not reflect in the WTC points table
In the current cycle of the WTC, New Zealand and Australia would have been locked with the same percentage points had Australia not been punished for a slow over-rate offence. In that case, Australia would have edged ahead of New Zealand and earned a place in the WTC final owing to their better RPW ratio.
Australia were docked four WTC points for falling short of the required over-rate by two overs against India in the Melbourne Test. The players were also fined 40% of their match fees for the same.
With a monetary fine already in place, the teams should not be fined in the form of WTC points for the same offence and it shouldn't be reflected on WTC points table. It is quite unfair to have teams losing out on the final berth in such a fashion. There is no docking of points in any other ICC event for slow over-rates, something that should be in place in the next cycle of WTC as well.
Check out the WTC final live score by clicking here.
#5 Top three teams to play a knockout
With nine teams competing, the current WTC system of having just the top two playing the final is a bit unfair.
Australia secured 69.2% points in the WTC cycle, yet they could not make it to the final. The difference in the percentage of points earned by the top three teams was very marginal, and there was not much to separate them in terms of quality as well. Hence, a third team could also be included in the knockout stage of the next WTC cycle.
The first ranked team could secure a direct entry to the final, while the second and third-ranked teams could play a ‘Qualifier’ to book their place in the title match. That would require an additional window of around eight to ten days in the already packed international calendar. But it would be worth it to plan for such a window if it rewards all the deserving teams for the hard work put in for two years.
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