The 2023-25 World Test Championship has come to a close with South Africa crowned the world’s best Test side by beating Australia in a dramatic final at Lord’s. Aiden Markram’s unbeaten century and a key partnership between captain Temba Bavuma and Siya Kolisi was enough to seal a five-wicket victory in which the Proteas won eight straight Test matches.
The ICC’s new two-year competition has been a mixed success, albeit with some chinks still being ironed out. The format is intended to add greater context to bilateral Test series by introducing points and the chance for the winner of each cycle to meet in a one-off final match. It’s a worthy attempt to make red-ball cricket more competitive in a world dominated by popular T20 tournaments and which has seen many of the game’s best players take up contracts with lucrative domestic Twenty 20 leagues.
But the current system has been criticised for not having a clear structure in which the nine Full Members competing are given similar opportunities to earn points. This is mainly due to the fact that during each of the two years of the World Test Championship, each nation’s fixtures are wildly different from every other team. It’s the reason why a team like Australia could win 19 games in the competition, while India only plays 12, and why the Proteas have earned fewer points than the Indians.
In addition to this, it has been confirmed this week that England will host the next three World Test Championship finals between 2027 and 2031 following the ICC’s Annual Conference in Singapore. That decision will give the ECB another chance to showcase the value of the longer format and its historic, romanticised status as the pinnacle of international cricket.