LONDON
\nReigning champions Australia face South Africa in the World Test Championship final at Lord\u2019s from Wednesday amid a chorus of criticism over the competition\u2019s format.
\nWisden, cricket\u2019s \u2018bible\u2019, was scath\u00ading in its assessment, with editor Lawrence Booth writing in this year\u2019s edition that the WTC is a \u201cshambles masquerading as a showpiece\u201d.
\nFormer England captain Michael Atherton said \u201ceveryone knows the WTC in its present guise is flawed\u201d.
\nOne fundamental problem is that political tensions mean India and Pakistan, two of cricket\u2019s leading nations, have not played a Test against each other since 2007.
\nThe nine-nation WTC is further skewed because the teams are not all required to face each other or to play the same number of matches.
\nCountries are free to decide how many Tests they want to play in the two-year qualifying cycle and positions are calculated based on the percentage of available points won by teams.
\nSouth Africa have played just 12 Tests in the current cycle \u2014 all of them two-match series \u2014 compared to England\u2019s 22 \u2014 and have not played either England or Australia.
\nSouth Africa also sent a weakened side to New Zealand in early 2024, and lost, with the best players staying at home to appear in the domestic T20 competition \u2014 a sign of the times in modern cricket.
\nBooth wants the cycle doubled to four years, with teams playing each other home and away over series that last at least three Tests.
\nOne of those involved in devising the points system, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP it was tricky to come up with a workable format.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to come up with a solution where everyone is happy given the barriers to an orthodox table that exist, such as the India-Pakistan situation,\u201d he said. \u201cCommercial considerations will also mean the \u2018Big Three\u2019 will want to play each other in five-Test series.\u201d
\nBut the WTC, set up to boost Test cricket\u2019\u2019 profile in an era of many competing formats, matters to players and fans.
\nNew Zealand\u2019s win in the inaugural 2021 World Test Championship final was welcomed as a long-overdue global triumph for a popular side.
\nAustralia\u2019s failure to qualify for that match was labelled a \u201cbig missed opportunity\u201d by skipper Pat Cummins, who made amends with victory in an Oval final two years ago.
\nThat India were beaten finalists in both 2021 and 2023 indicated there is still a place for the five-day game in world cricket\u2019s economic powerhouse, where Twenty20 cricket holds sway.
\nFormer India captain Virat Kohli, speaking after securing his long-awaited first Indian Premier League title last week with Royal Challengers Bengaluru, left no room for doubt about his views on where Test cricket sits in the hierarchy.
\n\u201cIf you want to earn respect in world cricket all over, take up Test cricket and give your heart and soul to it,\u201d he said. But the awkward question for the sport\u2019s chiefs is whether the WTC is helping or hindering that aim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON Reigning champions Australia face South Africa in the World Test Championship final at Lord\u2019s from Wednesday amid a chorus of criticism over the competition\u2019s format. Wisden, cricket\u2019s \u2018bible\u2019, was scath\u00ading in its assessment, with editor Lawrence Booth writing in this year\u2019s edition that the WTC is a \u201cshambles masquerading as a showpiece\u201d. Former England […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483485,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-483467","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n