The championship will begin from August 1 as Australia and England will face each other in the Ashes. In the championship, a total of 71 Test matches will be played across 27 series over two years. The top two teams will then contest in the ICC World Test Championship final in June 2021 in the UK.
“World Test Championship will bring relevance and context to bilateral Test cricket over the next two years, creating a pinnacle event for the five-day format, just as the World Cups for men and women do in the ODI and T20I formats,” Geoff Allardice, ICC General Manager - Cricket Operations said in an official statement.
Calculation of Points
Points will be up for grabs during each match and each team will play three home and three away series. Each series will count for 120 points, distributed over the number of matches in a series.
For example, a two-match series will mean 60 points for each Test while a three-match series will give 40 points to each Test match. A tie will be 50 per cent of the points available, whereas a draw will be a 3:1 points ratio.
The matches will be played in the same format as bilateral series but with the added context of a competition and one champion team. The number of matches in each series can vary between a minimum of two matches, to a maximum of five matches.
The first cycle of the WTC consists of only five-day matches and will include day-night matches. Only matches identified as part of the WTC will count towards the championship.