Former South Africa captain AB de Villiers has asked for changes in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, days after South Africa won their maiden trophy by beating Australia in the final as well. He wants the WTC schedule to be fair and consistent for all Test-playing nations as well. The veteran also suggested a four-year cycle, similar to the ODI World Cup, instead of two-year cycles, to ensure each side plays against every other team as well.
AB de Villiers’ comments came as the Proteas played the joint-fewest matches, 12, out of the nine teams, 10 matches fewer than England, who played the most during the WTC 2023-25 cycle as well. South Africa also played only two home Tests, with no series scheduled against Australia and England in the previous cycle as well.
AB de Villiers told BBC Sport: “[This moment] won’t be lost. But yes, to a certain extent, something needs to be done. I saw the schedule that came out for the next cycle of the WTC and there is an improvement, but I still feel there’s work that needs to be done there to just to get it as consistent as possible and as fair as possible for all for all Test-playing nations.”
“You want to get to that final feeling like you’ve played against all these nations. Maybe a four-year cycle would be nice. We’ve done that in the past with one-day internationals, so why not in Test cricket? It would make sense and it would give the organisers just so much more time to get a really fair, well-balanced system out there. It’s a long time until our next Test match, but there’s no doubt it won’t be forgotten. I’ve absolutely no doubt the Proteas have sort of stirred the emotions of the South African cricketing fans and they will patiently wait for that next encounter.”
Number of WTC 2025-27 matches for each team (via Cricket.com.au):
1. Australia: 22
2. England: 21
3. India: 18
4. New Zealand: 16
5. South Africa: 14
6. West Indies: 14
7. Pakistan: 13
8. Bangladesh: 12
9. Sri Lanka: 12
However, South Africa will start their WTC 2025-27 cycle against Pakistan in a two-match Test series, starting in October.
