World Test Championship 2: Everything you need to know

When does it start?

Just six weeks after New Zealand pulled off a stunning win over India in the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) Final, the next two-year cycle of the competition is about to get underway.

England’s five-match series against India, which starts at Trent Bridge on Wednesday (8pm AEST), is the first of 27 series that will count towards the next WTC, with the final to be held in 2023.

The nine teams involved will play a total of six series each, three at home and three away, and the top two teams at the end of the two-year cycle will play off in the Final at a venue and date yet to be determined.

The England v India series will be broadcast live in Australia on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports.

Who will Australia play?

Australia’s WTC campaign will begin with the Vodafone Ashes this summer before a tough away schedule in 2022 that will see them face India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka abroad.

They will finish with consecutive home series against the West Indies and South Africa in the 2022-23 summer, with that campaign against the Proteas to be the last of the 27 series played in this WTC cycle.

A full list of who plays who can be found at the bottom of the page.

OK, explain this points system to me …

The complicated points system has been, and continues to be, one of the main shortcomings of the WTC, but the International Cricket Council has tweaked the rules this time to – hopefully – make it more simple.

In this cycle, teams will receive 12 points for a win, four for a draw and six for a tie, regardless of how many matches are played in each series.

However, because not all series are of an equal length – they can be as short as two and as long as five Tests – a percentage-based system will be used to rank the teams and determine who qualifies for the final.

The total points each team accrues during the WTC will be divided by the maximum number of points available to that team.

For example, if a team picks up five wins (60 points) and two draws (eight points) for a total of 68 points from 15 matches (where a total of 180 points are available), they will have a points percentage of 0.377 (68 points divided by 180).

How did they land on this system?

It’s almost come about by accident!

When the pandemic forced multiple series to be postponed and ultimately cancelled in the first cycle, it became apparent that not all scheduled series would be played before the final. So the ICC revamped the competition from a points system to a percentage-based system, and they’ve retained that model for this cycle.

The points system initially used in the first cycle wasn’t perfect, either.

Under the old system, each series was worth a total of 120 points, regardless of how many matches it contained, to ensure teams that played shorter series weren’t at a disadvantage.

However, this created a situation where a victory in a two-game series was worth 60 points, while a win in a five-game campaign like the Ashes was worth just 24 points.

“We received feedback that the previous points system needed to be simplified,” said ICC Acting Chief Executive Geoff Allardice in confirming the switch to a percentage-based system.

“(The new system maintains) the principle of ensuring that all matches in a WTC series count towards a team’s standing, while accommodating series varying in length between two Tests and five Tests.

“The aim was to try and simplify the points system and to allow teams to be meaningfully compared on the table at any point, though they may have played differing numbers of matches and series.”

Are over-rate penalties still a thing?

It's a sore spot for Australians, given a penalty for being behind the over rate in last summer's Boxing Day Test ended up costing them a spot in the first WTC final, but yes, they will remain in place, albeit with a tweak.

Last December, Australia icon David Boon, in his role as ICC Match Referee, slapped Tim Paine's team with a fine and, more painfully, penalty of four WTC points for being two overs behind.

But the ICC has scaled back the penalty for the second edition of the WTC. Previously, the ICC's Test match playing conditions mandated that a team would have two WTC competition points deducted for each over it is behind the bate. But in the 2021-23 cycle, a team will be stripped of only one WTC point per over they are behind the rate.  

Sides will continue to be fined 20 percent of their match fees for every over they fail to bowl in the allotted time.

Not all teams play the same amount of games? Why not?

That’s correct. While each team must play six series, three at home and three away, the length of these series is determined by the competing nations.

It means England will play 22 matches in this WTC cycle while Bangladesh will play just 12, but the percentage-based system means teams that play less matches won’t be disadvantaged.

It’s not perfect, but the compressed nature of the international schedule – which is only becoming more crowded by domestic T20 leagues – and the tradition of decades of bilateral cricket means it’s difficult to find a middle ground.

If all series were standardised to be, for example, three matches each, that would mean showpiece campaigns like the Ashes would be shortened from the current five-game format, which is an outcome hardly anyone wants to see.

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But making all series five matches simply isn’t possible in the current climate, given the time pressure and significant costs involved for some countries to host Test cricket.

These are also the reasons why not all teams play each other, and why Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Ireland are not part of the WTC – the time and financial pressures are simply too great to overcome.

“We've got other Test-playing countries who are keen to be involved (in the WTC), but on the other hand, the number of series you can fit in a two-year period is probably not going to increase,” Allardice told ESPN recently.

“The calendar is congested, and some countries have introduced new T20 leagues, which takes their national team out of action for a period of time.

“Realistically, six series is going to be the number a team will play. How many teams in the competition is still being considered amongst the members.”

The WTC final had a reserve day, is that a thing now?

Not for Tests during the WTC, but it will return for the next WTC final. Scheduling a reserve day for the first WTC final in June proved extremely useful for New Zealand who won the match on the 'sixth' day of the Test in Southampton, but it will not become a regular thing outside of WTC finals.

So the World Test Championship is a regular thing now?

It certainly is! The ICC recently mapped out the next eight years of the international calendar, which includes a WTC Final every two years.

Following the upcoming 2021-23 competition, WTC cycles will also be held in 2023-25, 2025-27, 2027-29 and 2029-31.

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Who plays who in this WTC cycle?

Australia: England, West Indies, South Africa (home), India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka (away). Do not play New Zealand and Bangladesh

Bangladesh: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka (home), New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies (away). Do not play Australia and England

England: India, New Zealand, South Africa (home), Australia, Pakistan, West Indies (away). Do not play Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

India: Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka (home), Bangladesh, England, South Africa (away). Do not play Pakistan and West Indies

New Zealand: Bangladesh, South Africa, Sri Lanka (home), England, India, Pakistan (away). Do not play Australia and West Indies

Pakistan: Australia, England, New Zealand (home), Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, West Indies (away). Do not play India and South Africa

South Africa: Bangladesh, India, West Indies (home), Australia, England, New Zealand (away). Do not play Pakistan and Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka: Australia, Pakistan, West Indies (home), Bangladesh, India, New Zealand (away). Do not play England and South Africa

West Indies: Bangladesh, England, Pakistan (home). Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka (away). Do not play India and New Zealand

All teams to play three series at home and three away before March 2023. Exact dates and details of all series not yet confirmed

Vodafone Men's Ashes v England

First Test: December 8-12, The Gabba

Second Test: December 16-20, Adelaide Oval

Third Test: December 26-30, MCG

Fourth Test: January 5-9, SCG

Fifth Test: January 14-18, Perth Stadium