“It's exciting to play in the final of the first World Test Championship” - Kane Williamson

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has stated that his team are excited to feature in the final of the inaugural ICC World Test Championship (WTC). According to the Kiwi skipper, the event adds context to the Test format and also makes things more exciting.

Kane Williamson’s comments came after New Zealand qualified for the World Test Championship final with 70 percentage points, following Australia’s decision to postpone their tour of South Africa.

ICYMI: The proposed #SAvAUS series has been postponed, with Cricket Australia citing the Covid-19 situation in South Africa as a deterrent.Read 👇

— ICC (@ICC) February 2, 2021

PTI quoted Kane Williamson as telling YouTube channel 'Sports Today':

"It's exciting to play in the final of the first (World) Test Championship. Adding the Test Championship has added context to Test cricket and it has been a really interesting move."

He further added:

"I think we have seen that more so in recent months, where sides have made players benefit from opportunities to advance themselves into the final and that's really exciting."

Kane Williamson has been in sensational form in the build up to the ICC World Test Championship final. He registered his career-best Test score of 251 against West Indies, and followed it up with another double hundred and a hundred against Pakistan, as the Kiwis hammered both their opponents at home. The 30-year-old is also the current No.1-ranked batsman in Test cricket.

Which team will meet Kane Williamson-led New Zealand in the WTC final?

Kane Williamson

In all probability, either India or England will take on New Zealand in the World Test Championship final. India, who will host England in a four-match Test series, starting 5th February, need to beat the visitors by at least a 2-1 margin to qualify. On the other hand, England will need to get the better of India by at least a 3-1 margin to progress to the WTC final.

Australia can still make it to the final if the India-England series ends in a draw or the hosts and the visitors fail to win more than one or two Tests respectively.

Had the Aussies not been docked four WTC points for slow over-rate following the MCG Test against India, they would have been in a much better position to qualify.

India qualify if...🇮🇳 2-0🇮🇳 2-1🇮🇳 3-0🇮🇳 3-1🇮🇳 4-0England qualify if...🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 3-0🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 3-1🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 4-0Australia qualify if...🇮🇳 1-0🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 1-0🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2-0🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2-1🤝 0-0🤝 1-1🤝 2-2#WTC21

— ICC (@ICC) February 2, 2021

When will the World Test Championship final be held?

The final of the inaugural World Test Championship will be played at Lord’s from June 18-22. The match was initially supposed to be played around June 10. But with the IPL final also likely to be held around the same time, it was felt the players might face tricky quarantine issues.

Hence, the final dates were revised to June 18-22, with June 23 being the reserve day.