Who Cares About the World Test Championship?: Two Days at the 2025 Final

The World Test Championship is much maligned. Its many detractors argue that it is an irrelevance followed by very few, and understood by even fewer, requiring an advanced degree in computational alchemy to understand its arcane ranking system. Those people are wrong. Mostly. As a tournament, it is undeniably flawed and there is much that needs to be adjusted before it can truly serve the purpose of making Test cricket’s travelling roadshow of bilateral series into something cohesive and collectively meaningful. But, unlike many ICC initiatives, it appears an honest effort to give Test cricket a long-term future and to add stakes to series that might otherwise seem like nations going through the motions.

Let’s get one thing straight from the outset: the ranking system really isn’t that hard to comprehend. Teams’ placings in the WTC table are determined by the percentage of points they have taken from the total on offer from all the Tests they have played during each two-year cycle. That being said, there’s no denying that it’s unusual, inelegant, and creates perverse incentives for unscrupulous governing bodies to have their nations play fewer Tests against lower quality opposition in an effort to get an easy ride to the final.

It needs reform. There are clear arguments that, to truly grow the Test game, the Championship should be inclusive of all full ICC members. That several nations are currently left out is an injustice that needs to be addressed. Given that two of the three finals to date have been won by relatively small Test nations in New Zealand and South Africa is testament to the value of opening the tournament to all. An improved WTC could be played over four years, rather than two, with all full members playing each other home and away over that period in three-match series. Ashes series, and any others that boards concerned agree should be five Tests can be played as such, with only the first three matches counting towards WTC standings. An alternative model could see a two-tier system played over two or four years with the same home and away three-match model, with teams divided according to current ICC Test rankings and with the potential for promotion and relegation. Associate ICC members with aspirations of achieving Test status could be included in the second tier to provide exposure to, and experience of, the longest format of the game. There are obvious questions about financial viability, but either model might be affordable if ICC revenue were to be distributed more equitably. Such a settlement feels unlikely given the BCCI’s current dominance and the vested interests of the big three boards, but it might provide long-term security to the game that would ultimately be to their financial benefit.

So, its flaws could be fixed. Great. But does anybody actually care? Test cricket has survived for around 150 years without a crowning championship, so does it really need the WTC? As far as reaching a bigger audience is concerned, will time-starved, attention-poor fans really tune in or turn up just because outcome of a series has wider significance?

To answer that first question, let’s travel to Galle in early February 2025. It’s the second Test between Australia and Sri Lanka. Steve Smith is making light work of the Sri Lankan bowling attack on his way to a majestic century that will help secure a comfortable win for his side. A group of Aussie fans braving the unrelenting heat and blazing sun on the ramparts of the old fort have unfurled a huge homemade banner, a white sheet with ‘South Africa, you’re next’ daubed on it in thick, black paint. The final is over four months away, and yet these supporters have taken the time to paint a spare bedsheet, stuff it into a suitcase, transport it across the Indian Ocean, and display it proudly on the walls of the fort as a warning to their opposition. These people care.

Fast forward to June 13^th. It’s day three of the final at Lord’s. The match so far has been a testy, low-scoring affair played in similarly stifling conditions to that Test back in Galle. Except this time it’s Australia who are struggling. As South Africa reach the midway point in their chase of 282 in the fourth innings, their supporters break out into the chorus of Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’. When their captain, Temba Bavuma, reaches his half-century, they lustily chant his name to the tune of ‘Seven Nation Army’. To see a huge crowd of generally white South Africans screaming the name of their first ever Black captain shows the huge progress made since 1994 and is surely a symbol of the unifying power of sport to complement South Africa’s back-to-back Rugby World Cup wins under Siya Kolisi. The rapturous applause that greets every run as South Africa head towards what felt, at the outset, like a highly improbable target shows one thing beyond doubt: these people care.

It's not just the South Africans who are out in force. There are throngs of Australians who have travelled as part of organised tour groups. They fill up whole sections of the stands in their yellow tour T-shirts. As always seems to be the case whenever Australia travel to these shores, Merv Huges leads one particularly large group. I can practically see his moustache in the upper Edrich Stand from my seat on the benches in the lowest tier of the Pavilion. Plenty of neutrals have turned up as well, meaning there is near enough a full house on both days I attend (two and three). My ticket for day three was £60. Cheap by Lord’s standards, sure, but still a fair amount of money to see a Test in which England are not involved. Clearly these people also care.

So, people turned up. But did they tune in? It’s hard to find viewing figures for most countries but, in India at least, the ICC says they watched with almost unprecedented enthusiasm. They report a total of 2.94 billion viewing minutes in the country and 47 million viewers on the Star Sports network. These are the highest viewing figures for any non-India Test in Indian television history. So, in the broadcast market that matters most, people care.

Call me an optimist, but there is clear evidence that, with the World Test Championship, the ICC may have hit on something that could breathe new life into the five-day game. The current, imperfect set-up has drawn interest and eyeballs. With reform, the WTC could become a much more inclusive, meaningful tournament that might serve not only to save, but also to grow, Test cricket worldwide. Sadly, there are some major obstacles to this reform, foremost amongst them the perennial unwillingness of the BCCI to share ICC revenue more fairly across all full and associate members. Under Jay Shah’s stewardship, it seems unlikely that the ICC will have the appetite to push for meaningful change in this area. Still, one can’t help but dream of a brighter future for the longest form of the game where a global audience might, because it really means something, tune in to a Zimbabwe-Ireland Test at Bulawayo with the same investment and intrigue as they might a Boxing Day Ashes Test at the MCG.