With the inaugural World Test Championship coming to an after the final between India and New Zealand, many have started raising the question about whether it will end or continue to take place. Recent, a member of ICC’s Cricket Committee has confirmed that they have no plans to shelve it. Last year, Greg Barclay, the new ICC Chairman, had shared that COVID-19 has messed up many plans and they need to go back to the drawing board for further discussion once the inaugural edition ends.
Notably, the final of the inaugural edition will take place in Southampton from June 18. According to a report in Mail Online, ICC wants to stick with the plan in order to keep Test cricket as a priority.
“The competition will definitely continue. If this month’s final was a one-off then what message would that send out?” the website quoted a senior member as saying on the condition of anonymity.
The member again shared that if ICC drops the idea of WTC, then there’s a real possibility of few teams wouldn’t play Test as well.
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“If there is no competition to offer some kind of context to Tests then the fear would be that some countries would just stop playing five-day cricket. Continuing the tournament removes that fear. It’s seen as crucial for the future of Test match cricket,” the member said.
Meanwhile, in November 2020, Barclay had questioned whether this World Test Championship has managed to achieve what it wanted to.
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“… the issues that we have already got, I wonder whether some of it was because of an attempt to develop a Test Championship, clearly designed to drive interest back into Test cricket, provide a bit of context and relevance around the Test matches,” Barclay had said. From an idealist’s point of view, probably it had a lot of merit but practically, I do disagree, I am not sure whether it has achieved what it intended to do.”
However, the excitement is currently on the final as it is going to be interesting to see which team will have the last laugh – India or new Zealand?
