Every Thing You Need To Know About ICC Test Championship

ICC TEST CHAMPIONSHIP 2019-21

International cricket council (ICC) has been proactive in regard to improving the game of cricket as per modern-day requirements. Many new rules are introduced to benefit the game and encourage cricket fans and followers to enjoy the sport even more. ICC also organized so many tournaments to improve the level and standards of cricket. ODI World cup, T20 world cup, champions trophy, Asia cup, and there are so many such sorts of leagues that ICC organized to bring more excitement in the game of cricket and level up the standards of cricket.

WHAT’S WRONG WITH TEST CRICKET? WHY IS IT DYING?

The world is now moving fast, gone are the days when a movie was 3 hours long, or you had to travel for days to reach a destination. Now is the age of 5G, fast food, and fast entertainment. Test cricket in the presence of fast pace highly commercialized ODIs and T20Is has been the most affected format in recent times as there are very few if any changes made to its format and that is primarily due to its traditional value. Test cricket fanbase is now unfortunately limited mainly to nations like England and Australia which value their rich history and affiliation to test cricket and invest in the test cricket to keep it alive. ICC took a very bold step in the road to recovery for the test status and the test matches for the spectators and for the nations who didn’t give so much value to the test cricket.

ICC TEST CHAMPIONSHIP INITIATIVE

What is ICC Test Championship?

On 29 July 2019, ICC officially launched the ICC Test championship which will be played between 2019-2021. ICC Test Championship is the tournament of Tournaments. Nine Test Playing nations will compete against each other but not like a continues world cup tournament instead teams will play bilateral series and there is a point score system which will decide at the end that which two teams are the finalist and play the final in 2021. ICC first approved the idea of the ICC test championship in 2010, almost 10 years back. But due to various objections and organizational issues, its inaugural attempts were canceled twice in 2013 and 2017.

ICC TEST CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYING NATIONS:

ICC decides 9 out of 11 test playing nations to take part in this first edition of the ICC test championship. These 9 teams are:

PLAYING CRITERIA:

In the ICC test championship, each team plays 6 test series consist of 2-5 test matches, against 6 test teams out of 8 in these 2 years. The two teams which will be at the top at the end of this league stage will play final at Lord’s in England. If the final of the test championship ends up with a tie or no result, both the teams playing final at that time will be the joint champions of the ICC test championship.

ICC clearly announced that Pakistan and India will not play against each other in the first and second edition of the ICC test championship.

SCORING CRITERIA:

As per ICC, each team plays 6 test series consist of 2-5 test matches. Each series consist of 120 points. The top two teams of the point table will play final at Lord’s in England. ICC scoring criteria consist of test matches in the test series.

2 matches in a series:
Points for a win: 60 points
Points for a tie: 30 points
Points for a draw: 20 points
Points for a defeat: 0 points

3 matches in a series:
Points for a win: 40 points
Points for a tie: 20 points
Points for a draw: 13 points
Points for a defeat: 0 points

4 matches in a series:
Points for a win: 30 points
Points for a tie: 15 points
Points for a draw: 10 points
Points for a defeat: 0 points

5 matches in a series:
Points for a win: 24 points
Points for a tie: 12 points
Points for a draw: 08 points
Points for a defeat: 0 points

SCHEDULE OF ICC TEST CHAMPIONSHIP:

There are 9 participants of the first ICC test championship who played 71 matches among each other. Each team will play 6 test series in which 3 test series are home while 3 are away series. after all these matches, according to the ICC scoring criteria, the top 2 teams will be played final at Lord’s in England. The schedule of the ICC test championship are:

THE ASHES SERIES 2019:

5 match test series between England and Australia are scheduled from 1st August to 16th September 2019, which is the first series of this ICC test championship.

SRI LANKA VS NEW ZEALAND:

New Zealand Cricket team tour to Sri Lanka for their 2 match test series scheduled from 14th August to 26th August 2019.

WEST INDIES VS INDIA:

Indian Cricket team tour to West Indies for their 2 match test series scheduled from 22nd August to 3rd September 2019.

INDIA VS SOUTH AFRICA:

South African Cricket team tour to India for their 3 match test series scheduled from 2nd October to 23rd October 2019.

PAKISTAN VS SRILANKA:

Pakistan hosts Sri Lanka in UAE in their 2 match test series scheduled in October 2019.

AUSTRALIA VS PAKISTAN:

Pakistan Cricket Team tour to Australia for their 2 match test series scheduled in November-December 2019.

INDIA VS BANGLADESH:

Bangladesh Cricket Team tour to India for their 2 match test series scheduled in November 2019.

AUSTRALIA VS NEW ZEALAND:

New Zealand Cricket Team tour to Australia for their 3 match test series scheduled in December 2019-January 2020.

SOUTH AFRICA VS ENGLAND:

England cricket team tour to South Africa for their 4 test match series scheduled in December 2019-January 2020.

PAKISTAN VS BANGLADESH:

Pakistan hosts the Bangladesh Cricket team in UAE in their 2 match test series scheduled in January 2020.

BANGLADESH VS AUSTRALIA:

Australian Cricket team tour to Bangladesh for their 2 match test series scheduled in February 2020.

NEW ZEALAND VS INDIA:

Indian cricket team tour to New Zealand for their 2 match test series scheduled in February-March 2020.

SRI LANKA VS ENGLAND:

England Cricket team tour to Sri Lanka for their 2 match test series scheduled in March 2020.

ENGLAND VS WEST INDIES:

Test series between England and West Indies consists of 3 test matches scheduled in June 2020.

ENGLAND VS PAKISTAN:

Test series between England and Pakistan consists of 3 test matches scheduled in July 2020.

SRI LANKA VS BANGLADESH:

Test series between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh consists of 2 test matches scheduled in July 2020.

WEST INDIES VS SOUTH AFRICA:

Test series between West Indies and South Africa consists of 2 test matches scheduled in July 2020.

BANGLADESH VS NEW ZEALAND:

Test series between Bangladesh and New Zealand consists of 2 test matches scheduled in August 2020.

AUSTRALIA VS INDIA:

Test series between Australia and India consists of 4 test matches scheduled from November 2020-January 2021.

NEW ZEALAND VS WEST INDIES:

Test series between New Zealand and West Indies consists of 3 test matches scheduled in November 2020.

NEW ZEALAND VS PAKISTAN:

Test series between New Zealand and Pakistan consists of 2 test matches scheduled in December 2020.

BANGLADESH VS WEST INDIES:

Test series between Bangladesh and West Indies consists of 3 test matches scheduled in January 2021.

INDIA VS ENGLAND:

Test series between India and England consists of 5 test matches scheduled in January 2021.

PAKISTAN VS SOUTH AFRICA:

Test series between Pakistan and South Africa consists of 2 test matches scheduled in January 2021.

SOUTH AFRICA VS SRI LANKA:

Test series between South Africa and Sri Lanka consists of 2 test matches scheduled in January 2021.

SOUTH AFRICA VS AUSTRALIA:

Test series between South Africa and Australia consists of 3 test matches scheduled in February 2021.

WEST INDIES VS SRILANKA:

Test series between West Indies and Sri Lanka consists of 2 test matches scheduled in February 2021.

THE FINAL OF ICC TEST CHAMPIONSHIP:

At the end of the League matches in all these test playing nations, the top two teams who score most points and lead the table will play a final test match at Lord’s in England. The final test match is scheduled from 10-14 June 2021.