With nine wins from 19 matches, England currently sit sixth in the World Test Championship (WTC) standings with a points percentage of 40.79. So far, it does not look too bright for them to reach the 2025 final. However, their captain Ben Stokes has said that he doesn’t think much of the WTC standings, revealing that he cannot even make sense of the concept.

He prefers to concentrate on one game at a time, taking a game-by-game approach. Ben Stokes believes that if England consistently performs well, they’ll naturally position themselves for the final. However, qualifying for the WTC final isn’t their main priority right now.

Ben Stokes added that England plays the most Test matches of any side, and thus, too much focus on WTC standing may shift their attention to it, rather than to an ongoing series.

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“In all honesty, the World Test Championship is a bit confusing,” said Ben Stokes. “We don’t really pay much attention to it. If you play good cricket and get the results you want, you’ll eventually find yourself in the mix for the final, but it’s not something we obsess over.” He added that he can’t recall ever spending significant time thinking specifically about the WTC, as it is a long-term competition and “utterly confusing.”

Ben Stokes insisted that the team is only concentrating on what is at hand, in terms of fixtures. “We play more cricket than any other side, so we just focus on playing well and taking things one series at a time. If we play well, we’ll be in the mix, but if we don’t, we won’t be,” he said.

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England is currently touring New Zealand for a three-match Test series. The hosts batted well on Day 1 with Kane Williamson making 93 and taking his side to 319/8. In response, Shoaib Bashir of England impressed everyone with a four wicket haul.