ICC World Test Championship Final Schedule, Dates, Points Table, Teams, Most Runs, Most wickets all you need to know.
ICC World Test Championship Final: It all started back in 2019 when the International Cricket Council (ICC) initiated another World Cup in the form of Test cricket to add fuel to the dying Test format. Due to overwhelming response to the various T20 leagues in the countries and multiple world cups in the limited-overs format conducted by the ICC, Test Cricket was constantly getting degraded.
ICC in 2019 announced an ICC World Test Championship whose final will be played in 2021. Earlier, it was scheduled that the final of the inaugural ICC World Test Championship will be held at Home of Cricket, Lords, however, later it was shifted to Rose Bowl Stadium in Southampton.
The competition did really well in bringing back Test cricket to life and produced some of the iconic thrillers with red balls which will be remembered for a long long time.
In this article, we will discuss every detail about the inaugural ICC World Test Championship from dates, Schedule, Points Table, Teams, Most Runs, Most Wickets, everything you need to know.
ICC World Test Championship Final Dates and Venues:
The final of the inaugural ICC World Test Championship is scheduled to begin on June 18 between India and New Zealand at Rose Bowl Stadium in Southampton. Earlier, the final was scheduled at Home Of Cricket Lord’s while later it was changed to Rose Bowl Stadium, Southampton, England due to better lodging facilities of the city.
ICC World Test Championship Final Points Table:
The International Cricket Council (ICC) generated certain rules and regulations for the conduct of the tournament and to rank the teams. The points table is currently led by the Indian team with 72.2 winnings per cent while New Zealand is at number two with a 70 per cent winning ratio. The third place is taken by Australia while England is at four.
A set of rules were designed to award teams for each win, in the format depending upon the number of games they play in the series. For every two games Test series, teams were awarded 60 points to win, 30 points to tie, 20 points to draw while no points for a loss.
For a three games Test series, teams were given 40 points to win, 20 points for a tie, 13 points for a draw, and 0 points for a loss.
A four games Test series comprises of the rules, 30 wins for a win, 15 points for a tie, 10 points for a draw, and 0 points for a loss while in a five games series, 24 points for a win, 12 points for a tie, 08 points for a draw, and 0 points for a loss.
| Matches in series | win | tie | draw | defeat |
| 2 | 60 | 30 | 20 | 0 |
| 3 | 40 | 20 | 13 | 0 |
| 4 | 30 | 15 | 10 | 0 |
| 5 | 24 | 12 | 8 | 0 |
Initially, when the tournament began, a major criterion implemented to set teams in the points table was the points earned by the teams after winning games. The top two teams with the maximum number of points will reach the final of the championship. However ever since this dreaded pandemic started, most of the scheduled tours either got cancelled or were postponed.
This prompted the ICC to make some changes in the rules. Later it was announced that the team with the highest winning percentage would reach the final of the championship.
The percentage system focused more on the winning ratio of the team rather than accumulating points. The winning percentage was calculated with the number of games played and a total number of games won.
Total Participating Teams in ICC World Test Championship 2019-2021:
A total of 9 full member Teams of the ICC took part in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship 2019-2021. Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, England, South Africa and West Indies took part in the competition however other three full member ICC teams Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Ireland did not take part.
ICC World Test Championship Full Schedule:
The full schedule of the championship was announced by the ICC in its Future Tour Programme (FTP) on 20th June 2018. All the teams were scheduled to play at least six series however due to covid-19 restrictions only India managed to play its quota of six series while no other teams played the full six series.
Later due to the confusion posed by postponement and cancellation of the multiple series, ICC decided to change the points table ranking system to Percentage of Points (POP) earned.
| 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 |
| 17 Dec 2020 | Border Gavaskar Trophy | Australia v India | 4 |
| 3 Dec 2020 | WI tour of NZ 2020 | New Zealand v West Indies | 3 |
| 26 Dec 2020 | PAK tour of NZ 2020 | New Zealand v Pakistan | 2 |
| 26 Dec 2020 | SL tour of SA 2021 | South Africa v Sri Lanka | 2 |
| 14 Jan 2021 | ENG tour of SL 2021 | England v Sri Lanka | 2 |
| 3 Feb 2021 | WI tour of BAN 2021 | Bangladesh v West Indies | 3 |
| 5 Feb 2021 | ENG tour of IND 2021 | India v England | 5 |
| 26 Jan 2021 | SA tour of PAK 2021 | Pakistan v South Africa | 2 |
| 21 March 2021 | SL tour of WI 2021 | West Indies v Sri Lanka | 2 |
| 21 April 2021 | BAN tour of SL 2021 | Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh | 2 |
| 18 Jun 2021 | India vs New Zealand 2021 (Final) | India vs New Zealand | 1 |
Most Runs scored in the ICC World Test Championship 2019-2021:
Australian batsman Marnus Labuschagne is currently leading the run-getters chart with 1675 runs in 13 matches and 23 innings. He averages 72.82 while his best score was 215. In the process, Labuschagne smacked 5 tons and 9 half-centuries.
The second place is occupied by England skipper Joe Root. He is just 15 runs behind Marnus in the run charts. Root scored 1660 runs in 20 games and 37 innings. He also scored a double century and 3 hundred and eight fifties.
The lead is followed by Steve Smith at number 3 with 1341 runs. English all-rounder Ben Stokes is at number four with 1334 runs while India’s Ajinkya Rahane holds the fifth spot with 1095 runs.
Here is the complete table of stats:
| Batsman | Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | Ave | HS | 100s | 50s |
| Marnus Labuschagne | 13 | 23 | 0 | 1675 | 72.82 | 215 | 5 | 9 |
| Joe Root | 20 | 37 | 2 | 1660 | 47.43 | 228 | 3 | 8 |
| Steve Smith | 13 | 22 | 1 | 1341 | 63.85 | 211 | 4 | 7 |
| Ben Stokes | 17 | 32 | 3 | 1334 | 46.00 | 176 | 4 | 6 |
| Ajinkya Rahane | 17 | 28 | 3 | 1095 | 43.80 | 115 | 3 | 6 |
| Last updated : 6 March 202 |
Most Wickets Scalped in the ICC World Test Championship 2019-2021:
The number 1 Test bowler Pat Cummins leads the chart of bowlers with 70 wickets in 14 games and 28 innings. Cummins is followed by English Stuart Broad with 69 wickets in 16 games and 31 innings. Broad took 2 five wickets haul as well as one ten-wicket haul in the game.
Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is at number three with 67 scalps in 13 games and 24 innings. Ashwin took 4 five wickets haul in the Test in this series. Indian spinner is followed by Australian Nathan Lyon and New Zealand pacer Tim Southee with 56 and 51 wickets respectively.
Here is the complete table of stats:
| Bowler | Mat | Inns | Wkts | Runs | Overs | BBI | BBM | Avg | 5WI | 10WM |
| Pat Cummins | 14 | 28 | 70 | 1472 | 555.3 | 5/28 | 7/69 | 21.02 | 1 | 0 |
| Stuart Broad | 16 | 31 | 69 | 1386 | 499.3 | 6/31 | 10/67 | 20.08 | 2 | 1 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 13 | 24 | 67 | 1399 | 524.4 | 7/145 | 9/207 | 20.88 | 4 | 0 |
| Nathan Lyon | 14 | 27 | 56 | 1757 | 630.5 | 6/49 | 10/118 | 31.37 | 4 | 1 |
| Tim Southee | 10 | 20 | 51 | 1054 | 390.3 | 5/32 | 9/110 | 20.66 | 3 | 0 |
| Last updated: 8 April 2021 |
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