Mohammad Talha Sajid: ICC Test Championship

The ICC World Test Championship is intended to become the premier championship for Test cricket run by the International Cricket Council (ICC) with the play-offs scheduled to be held for the first time in 2017. The original plans to hold the competition in 2013 were abandoned due to financial problems. It will replace the one-day international competition, the ICC Champions Trophy, which was held in 2013 for the last time. The ICC has also announced plans to stage the second Test championship in India in Feb-March 2021.The top four ranked teams on December 31, 2016 – the cut-off date set by the International Cricket Council (ICC) - will play the three-match Test championship between the first and third weeks of June 2017. There will be two semi-finals and the winners will play the final.The ICC is taking extra care to ensure that the 10 Test-playing teams do not manipulate the qualification period by adding/cancelling/postponing series, particularly in the last 24 months of the qualification period.

All the Test-playing countries will have to play a minimum of 15 Test matches between May 2013 and December 2016 to qualify for the first World Test Championship (WTC) that will be held in England in 2017. The ICC also said that ICC Champions Trophy is discontinued and now there will be only one pinnacle global event for each of the three formats over a four-year cycle in Cricket - Test cricket, One Day International and Twenty20 International. On October 12,2013,ICC announced that the pathway to the ICC World Test Championship had begun with the revealing of the event brand logo. The second Test Championship will be in India in 2021.

ICC World Test Championship
Administrator	International Cricket Council
Format	Test cricket
First tournament	2017
Next tournament	2021
Tournament format	Semi-final, and final
Number of teams	4
Current champion	TBD
Most successful	TBD
Most runs	TBD
Most wickets	TBD

Prelude

This championship was first proposed in 2009, when the ICC met the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), to discuss a proposed test match championship. Former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe was one of the main brains behind this proposal.

The idea of a test championship was considered by the ICC Chief Executives' Committee at a meeting at their headquarters in Dubai in mid-September 2010. ICC spokesperson Colin Gibson said that much more would be revealed after the meeting, and that if the championship was held in England, then the favoured final venue would be Lord's. As expected, the ICC approved the plan and said that the first tournament would be held in England and Wales in 2013. The format of the tournament was also announced. There was a debate as to whether the play-off would take place between the bottom two teams or the top four teams, but the latter was unanimously chosen by the board. It was also announced that the tournament would replace the limited-overs tournament, the ICC Champions Trophy. A test world cup was planned in the year 2013 but the requirements were not met. There was no consensus between the stalwarts of cricket. A revised plan was set up and the new blue print for test cricket world cup is now finally on the table. The 2013 ICC test world cup was also scheduled to be played in England

However in 2011 the ICC announced that the Test Championship would not take place until 2017, and that the 2013 tournament would be cancelled. This was due to financial problems within the board, and its commitment to its sponsors and broadcasters. England and Wales, the original hosts of this cancelled tournament were awarded the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy instead, the tournament that the Test Championship was intended to replace. This drew widespread criticism; both Greg Chappell and Graeme Smith criticised the ICC, saying that postponing the Test Championship was a wrong and unjustified thing. The Guardian reported that this postponement was a blow to Lord's which had been expected to host the final.

At the chief executives' meeting of the ICC in April 2012, it confirmed that the ICC Champions Trophy would be last held in 2013 with the inaugural Test Championship play-offs being scheduled for June 2017. The ICC said that there would be only one trophy for each format of the game, which meant that the Champions Trophy would no longer take place since the Cricket World Cup is the premier event for 50-over cricket.

Format

According to an announcement made by the ICC at their headquarters in Dubai in 2010, the format will comprise an inaugural league stage, played over a period of four years, with all ten current test cricket nations of the ICC (Australia, India, England, South Africa,Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, West Indies, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh) participating. After the league stage the top four teams will take part in the play-offs, with the final determining the Test cricket champions.

No decision has been made concerning how to decide the outcome of drawn matches in the knock-out stages.

2017 tournament

When the ICC approved the Championship in 2010, it was also announced that England and Wales would host the inaugural tournament in 2013, with Lord's hosting the final. However, the tournament was eventually cancelled due to financial problems, and as The Guardian reported, it not only spread criticism in England, but around the world. The limited-overs ICC Champions Trophy, which it replaced, was instead named as the tournament to be held in 2013.

The first ever Test cricket championship is scheduled to be held in 2017, with the final possibly following the historical timeless test format.Further improvements in the structure of the championship have also been discussed.

The top four teams in the World Test Rankings on December 31, 2016 will qualify for the three-match semi-finals to be held in 2017, provisionally scheduled to be held in England.

In the future schedule released by the ICC, the second Test championship is planned for 2021.

Media coverage

A major TV dispute before the first planned (but eventually abandoned) Test Championship in 2013, further threatened to further disrupt the already crowded calendar. This was because the ESPN Star Sports, the broadcasting rights owner of all ICC events until 2015, was not to keen on losing on the ICC Champions Trophy which was last won in 2013 by India. It is currently undecided who would earn the broadcasting deals as by 2017, ESPN-Star Sports's contract will expire.

Tournament history

Year	Host Nation(s)	Final Venue	Final
Year	Host Nation(s)	Final Venue	Winner	Result	Runner-up
2017 Details	England & Wales	Lord's, London	TBD	TBD	TBD
2021 Details	India	Wankhede, Mumbai	TBD	TBD	TBD

Year	Teams
2017	4 teams
2021	4 teams

Teams participating

So far, only the current ICC-recognized 10 Test cricket playing nations can participate in the tournament. The inaugural tournament is set for 2017, after the 2013 tournament was cancelled because of pressure from television companies to continue with the ICC Champions Trophy.

Debutant teams[

Year	Teams
2017	TBD
2021	TBD

In 2009 Ireland stated its intention to apply for Full Membership of the ICC with the aim of achieving Test status, and restated its intention in 2012, but the 2012 plan aims to achieve Test status by 2020, which, even if successful, would be too late for the inaugural ICC World Test Championship scheduled to take place in 2017.

Overview

The following table provides an overview of performances by the different test-playing nation in the championship. Teams are sorted by best performance, then total number of wins, then total number of games, then by alphabetical order.