Leading members urge ICC to scrap World Test Championship

Cricket boards around the world, led by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia (CA), have urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to scrap the World Test Championship, as reported by the Times of India on Thursday.

The boards have asked the sport’s governing body to scrap the Test Championship Cycle and the proposed One-Day International (ODI) league cycle.

The ECB is further leading a request by member boards to revisit the Future Tours Program (FTP) draft that is being pushed by the ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney’s office.

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The requests were made two weeks ago during a teleconference in March.

“This is an ongoing discussion right now. There’s absolutely no leadership coming out of the ICC whatsoever,” a leading administrator told Times of India on Thursday.

The boards are requesting the changes to combat the uncertain calendar, impacted by the ongoing coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, which is likely to come in the way of the bilateral arrangements of the member boards.

The International Cricket Council officially launched the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) in July 2019.

The WTC will see the top nine Test teams in the world — Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies — compete in 71 Test matches across 27 series, played over two years; with the top two teams contesting the ICC World Test Championship Final in June 2021 (to be played in the UK) and the winners crowned ICC World Test Champions.