The ICC World Test Championship 2019-21 that begins in August 2019 is the inaugural edition of the tournament. It comprises of the top 9 Test teams playing 6 series, 3 home and 3 away matches, in the two-year period which is decided by the World Test Championship schedule.
Here is a list of all the series in the ICC World Test Championship 2019-21:
| Starting date | Series name | Teams | No. of matches |
| 1 Aug 2019 | The Ashes | England v Australia | 5 |
| 14 Aug 2019 | NZ tour of SL 2019 | Sri Lanka v New Zealand | 2 |
| 22 Aug 2019 | IND tour of WI 2019 | West Indies v India | 2 |
| 02 Oct 2019 | Freedom Trophy | India v South Africa | 3 |
| 14 Nov 2019 | BAN tour of IND 2019 | India v Bangladesh | 2 |
| 21 Nov 2019 | ENG tour of NZ 2019 | New Zealand v England | 2 |
| 21 Nov 2019 | PAK tour of AUS 2019 | Australia v Pakistan | 2 |
| 12 Dec 2019 | Trans-Tasman Trophy | Australia v New Zealand | 3 |
| 26 Dec 2019 | Basil D'Oliveira Trophy | South Africa v England | 4 |
| 7 Feb 2020 | BAN tour of PAK 2020 | Pakistan v Bangladesh | 2 |
| 21 Feb 2020 | IND tour of NZ 2020 | New Zealand v India | 2 |
| 19 Mar 2020 | ENG tour of SL 2020 | Sri Lanka v England | 2 |
| 8 Jul 2020 | WI tour of ENG 2020 | England v West Indies | 4 |
| 5 Aug 2020 | PAK tour of ENG 2020 | England v Pakistan | 3 |
| TBD (Aug 2020) | NZ tour of BAN 2020 | Bangladesh v New Zealand | 2 |
| TBD (Nov 2020) | Border Gavaskar Trophy | Australia v India | 4 |
| TBD (Nov 2020) | WI tour of NZ 2020 | New Zealand v West Indies | 3 |
| TBD (Dec 2020) | PAK tour of NZ 2020 | New Zealand v Pakistan | 2 |
| TBD (Jan 2021) | WI tour of BAN 2021 | Bangladesh v West Indies | 3 |
| TBD (Jan 2021) | ENG tour of IND 2021 | India v England | 5 |
| TBD (Jan 2021) | SA tour of PAK 2021 | Pakistan v South Africa | 2 |
| TBD (Jan 2021) | SL tour of SA 2021 | South Africa v Sri Lanka | 2 |
| TBD (Feb 2021) | AUS tour of SA 2021 | South Africa v Australia | 3 |
| TBD (Feb 2021) | SL tour of WI 2021 | West Indies v Sri Lanka | 2 |
| 10 Jun 2021 | World Test Championship Final | TBD v TBD | 1 |
*Last updated on 4 Aug 2020
The tournament starts with the Ashes series in England from 1 August 2019 with the last series featuring West Indies and Sri Lanka in the Caribbean islands in February 2021. The ICC World Test Championship 2019 schedule is tightly packed with series during the beginning of the tournament and then towards the end of the two-year period in 2021.
The championship will be interrupted by global events like the Indian Premier League 2020 and the ICC T20 World Cup 2020 starting on 18 October in Australia, as there are no other international matches going on during that period. However, the Championship will resume right after the World Cup comes to an end. The World Test Championship schedule comprises of 27 series involving Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa and the West Indies.
Out of the 27 Test series that will be played across the globe, only two of them will have 5 Tests. The first series in the tournament, The Ashes, will consist of 5 Tests and then team England will play a 5-match Test series in India in 2021. Out of the remaining 25, only two other series will comprise of 4 Tests. Those will be England’s tour of South Africa 2019 and India’s tour of Australia 2020. 7 other series will be 3-match affairs and the remaining 16 series will have only two matches each.
Team India’s Test Championship schedule starts from their tour to West Indies. The first Test will commence on 14 August 2019. Their next assignment will be a 3-match home series against South Africa, which is known as the Freedom Trophy. It will begin on 2 October 2019. The No.1 ranked side will then play a couple of Test matches against Bangladesh, also at home. There will not be much of a gap between the two series.
Also see - ICC Rankings
They will be having a three-month gap from Tests after that. In February 2020, the Indian side will be touring New Zealand for two Test matches. They will face the Kiwis from 21 February 2020. This will be India’s fourth series out of their six in the World Test Championship. They will be concentrating on the T20 format after that and will not be playing any Tests until the end of the T20 World Cup in Australia.
While the other teams will leave the country, the Indian team will stay back Down Under and contest in the Border Gavaskar Trophy. The 4-match series will conclude on January 2021. This will be Indian Cricket Team's last away series and they will then head back to host the English side. This will be India’s only 5-match Test series in the inaugural edition of the Championship. The Test series will commence in the same month after India return from Australia. This will give an advantage to the England side because they will be the fresher side. Although, the downside to this series for the visiting team will be that they will be featuring in a Test match after a gap of 7 months.
The top two teams in the ICC World Test Championship Points Table will qualify for the Final that will be played at the Home of Cricket, the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London from 10 June 2021.
All the Tests involving Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Ireland in the two-year period are not a part of the ICC World Test Championship. However, all the Tests will contribute to the ICC Test Rankings.
