Some people think the Test Championship is farcical. I am a fan of it. I am willing to fight for its corner all day long. I am very pro it. It is not complicated. It is simple mathematics. Each country will play one series against six different countries over a 20 month period between August 2019 and March 2021 and each series is capped at 120 points. There are three home and three away series each and there are two opponents each country won’t face in the first cycle within the nine team league. Suggestions that the league was farcical on social media prompted me to come back with this piece.
The recently outgoing ICC CEO David Richardson and his team have worked their socks off to get this concept off the ground. It has been talked about for a long time. But now it is finally happening and happening as we speak in metaphorical terms. They thought long and hard about various models and league structures and have come to this conclusion after thorough deliberation.
It is the best thing that has happened to Test Cricket or cricket more generally and realistically speaking was the only way of making it possible given various factors they had to account for such as time lengths in terms of the duration of the league, political tensions between India and Pakistan and the varying general interest or demand in the Test format in different parts of the globe. It is the best they could have come up with given those limiting factors I have mentioned in the previous sentence.
Ask the players. It is serious business. Teams are talking about it and thinking about it and making the Lord’s Test final in 2021 is a major incentive for all involved. So let’s crack on and think positively.
I have been following its development enthusiastically since they announced it was happening for real in the summer of 2017. I have eagerly awaited the scoring system and the itineraries that were released later and I couldn’t wait for the Test Cricket experience post 2019 World Cup when the league was going to commence for good. I was interested to see how other fellow enthusiasts would take to it.
Here below is why some of the opposition to it is nonsensical, and why it is a fair and exciting league for followers of the traditional format:
Not everybody plays everybody but you play 75% of the teams. You don’t want the league to be too long or for Test series to all be restricted to two Tests and hence it is not possible to play all eight opposition in just over a year and a half. But you nonetheless play majority of opposition. At least you don’t play the same team twice.
Each country will play an equal amount of home and away series within the cycle with each Test series capped at 120 points. This was the only way of doing this given series lengths vary. Standardizing the number of Tests wasn’t ideal as you want to encourage longer series where it sells and also because you want each Test to count within a World Test Championship series.
It gives two match Test series greater relevance than they otherwise might have. There are sixty points available for a Test victory as each series has a maximum of 120 points to be gained divided by the number of Tests within that series to determine how much a Test victory is worth.
It gives dead rubbers in Test series more relevance. Think of the points available to win as opposed to the series score line in those scenarios. There is a bigger long term picture to play for and aim towards as opposed to just the bilateral series score line should the series already be decided.
There will be a definitive Test champion at the end of it all. No arguing about the merits of the top ranked Test side anymore. It will be like you have won a tournament where all participants have an equal opportunity of making the final. Plus you would have had to deliver in the pressures of a final to get the silverware.
It gives Test Cricket much needed context and meaning at long last, particularly outside of the more marquee rivalries.
The prospect of a neutral Test match at Lord’s in the final is mouthwatering. Barring the brief two match Test series in 2010 between Australia and Pakistan, England last hosted a neutral Test match in 1912. This is a rarity, adding to the occasion and fascination of such a spectacle should it arise.
The prospect of even India vs Pakistan facing each other in Test Cricket should they both qualify for the final either in 2021 or 2023. This hasn’t happened since 2007. The Test Championship enables this to happen even if it is just for a one off Test; it could be the starting point for something more regular between these two foes as far as red ball cricket goes.
There will be a showpiece event for Test Cricket with a Lord’s Test final in 2021 and 2023 and this will be a great advert for the longer form of the game. It will be a spectacle, an occasion, an event, a finale, a decider. Unarguably will be the most significant Test Match ever played between 10th to 14th June 2021 with the right to become World Test Champions for the first time at stake.
It is better than just having the current Test rankings system to refer to. It is easier to understand how points have been accumulated by looking at Test results and the respective lengths of those series. No one can dispute the winner at the end.
It is only lasting 20 months long for the league stage, although the final will be contested two and bit months later once the English summer is in full swing. This helps maintain interest and relevance in the league phase. It is not overly long. The teams shouldn’t change too much over this period in order to discover the best Test team in the world as far as personnel is concerned or best two given the final is still to come in due course. It is not a drag by any stretch of the imagination. Plus teams have an adequate gap to prepare and plan for the final properly and accordingly and really put on a show in an effort to win the final at the most illustrious cricket ground on the planet.
The location of the final has to get the juices flowing. Playing a Test Match at Lord’s or any international match for that matter is special, but playing a final as well just adds to it. The ground has witnessed many historical moments, but a global final in the five day format is the first of its kind and you couldn’t ask for a better venue to stage it at.
England and Australia will become less Ashes obsessive as this is undoubtedly a bigger, harder and more meaningful prize to win with more of a global feel to it. In order to make the final and ultimately win it you’d have had to hold your own against a variety of opposition across at least four different countries whereas the Ashes is only a five match Test rubber against a certain country albeit a historic one. Not everything will revolve around the build up to an Ashes series and the Ashes series itself anymore thanks to the introduction of the World Test Championship which has been long overdue and is finally happening thankfully. Better late than never.
Let’s get behind it folks. Cut it some slack. It is here to stay. Long may it last.
