On Thursday, ICC announced that the finalists for the inaugural World Test Championship will be decided based on the percentage of points earned by each team. The decision was made on the recommendation of the ICC Cricket Committee under the leadership of former Indian skipper, Anil Kumble.
After the change in the evaluation system, Australia who was lagging behind India in terms of points, have toppled them from the top of the table due to their superior percentage points. Having played three series so far, Australia has 296 points while India has 360 points after four series. However, Australia’s percentage point stands at 82.2 while India conceded their no.1 spot due to their inferior percentage point of 75.0.
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England and New Zealand are in third and fourth positions with 60.8 and 50.0 percentage points respectively. In a press release regarding the same, ICC said, “The Board approved a recommendation from the ICC Cricket Committee, headed by Anil Kumble, to change the competition terms for the event to determine how series affected by the global pandemic are accounted for on the points table.”
🇦🇺 Today's announcement means Australia jump past India to claim 🔝 spot in the ICC World Test Championship 🏆 pic.twitter.com/Pjitqfu2pg
— ICC (@ICC) November 19, 2020
On the other hand, ICC Chief Executive, Manu Sawhney said, “Both the Cricket Committee and Chief Executives Committee supported the approach of ranking teams based on completed matches and points earned as this reflects their performance and doesn’t disadvantage teams that have been unable to complete all of their matches through no fault of their own.”
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He further added, “We explored a whole range of options, but our members felt strongly that we should proceed as planned with the first-ever World Test Championship Final in June next year.”
The ICC also decided to postpone the 2022 Women’s T20 World Cup to 9-26 February 2023.
