The Inaugural World Test Championship

[aussie tragic]

Shows how flawed this system is.

India play only 2 tests and win against easy beats West Indies 2-0 so get 120 points.

England and Australia play 5 tests of much stronger opposition and either side may go 3-1, which will give them only 80 points.

 

[jimmy101]

Yep, the whole concept is absurd. Honestly doesn't make an ounce of difference to me whether it exists or not.

 

[vcs]

Yep absolute disgrace.

Should have given India bonus points for the victory margins.

 

[the big bambino]

Yep, the whole concept is absurd. Honestly doesn't make an ounce of difference to me whether it exists or not.

Ta Da! It had to be said.

 

[harsh.ag]

Wouldn't call England a much stronger opposition atm personally, but what the hey

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

I thought everyone played each other anyway.

 

[NZTailender]

Shows how flawed this system is.

India play only 2 tests and win against easy beats West Indies 2-0 so get 120 points.

England and Australia play 5 tests of much stronger opposition and either side may go 3-1, which will give them only 80 points.

Yep, the whole concept is absurd. Honestly doesn't make an ounce of difference to me whether it exists or not.

Is there a law in this new championship barring England and Australia from organising fixtures against weak teams? I mean, apart from against each other of course

While it seems absurd that you get 24 points per win in a 5 test series, and 60 in a 20, ask why a team schedules a five test in the first place? I'd hope that this would increase the amount of 4-5 test series to make the championship more fair.

 

[the big bambino]

Is there a law in this new championship barring England and Australia from organising fixtures against weak teams? I mean, apart from against each other of course

Ha, maybe. I'm not really getting how some matches are champ worthy but others aren't. Like an upcoming kiwi - pom series doesn't count for points or so I hear. I mean if its looking like you're ending a few points short can you just organise a 2 matcher against Ireland on a green top, Tim Murtagh notwithstanding.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

The Ashes are the pinnacle of cricket so I think you should organize a 20-match series.

 

[NZTailender]

Ha, maybe. I'm not really getting how some matches are champ worthy but others aren't. Like an upcoming kiwi - pom series doesn't count for points or so I hear. I mean if its looking like you're ending a few points short can you just organise a 2 matcher against Ireland on a green top, Tim Murtagh notwithstanding.

I mean, if it's at the discretion of the board with ICC approval, they're either going to work things out to be the best for them, without the ICC going "hey, you can't just play Zimbabwe, Afgahnistan, Ireland, Bangladesh and West Indies"

I would've thought a way of working it out is taking the ICC Test point rankings at x point in time and using that as a basis, meaning you need to get to x points of value in opposition in x time in the Championship window, to 'qualify' as being in the comp, or something.

 

[the big bambino]

Reckon it would be better. Kind of like qualifying for the tennis atp finals at the end of the year ... I think.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Only way Test championship would have any validity would be if it's done through a full rotation of everyone playing each other equally, home and away, with the same number of Tests. Which will simply never happen.

 

[jimmy101]

Only way Test championship would have any validity would be if it's done through a full rotation of everyone playing each other equally, home and away, with the same number of Tests. Which will simply never happen.

It could happen, the only thing that stops it is finances, unfortunately.

You have 12 Test nations, which means each team faces up against 11 opponents. In a perfect world you could have half of the sides play 5 home Tests & 6 away Tests, whilst the remaining teams play 6 home & 5 away during the space of 12 months. Imagine that, a full year of Test cricket, the whole comp would be like a Test match itself, ebbing & flowing.

After the initial cycle completes itself, you'd just flip the schedule and everyone's happy.

Of course, this would never happen, but it's the closest thing to a legitimate Test match round-robin that I can think of.

 

[TheJediBrah]

It could happen, the only thing that stops it is finances, unfortunately.

Well yes of course that's what I meant by "will never happen".

The other way it could work would be to just make it like the ODI world cup, hosted in 1 place and do group matches and/or finals. Of course that's only slightly more practical than your idea as it would take months.

 

[jimmy101]

I honestly wouldn't mind it if every four years they just took the top 8 ranked Test nations & staged a Test knockout trophy in a singular country (ala the ODI WC). For example you could have the top ranked side taking on the 8th ranked side, 2nd vs 7th etc etc. In the event of a drawn Test, the higher ranked side progresses through the tourney.

That would put more emphasis & importance on the world rankings overnight & the whole thing could be done & dusted in roughly one month.

 

[TheJediBrah]

I honestly wouldn't mind it if every four years they just took the top 8 ranked Test nations & staged a Test knockout trophy in a singular country (ala the ODI WC). For example you could have the top ranked side taking on the 8th ranked side, 2nd vs 7th etc etc. In the event of a drawn Test, the higher ranked side progresses through the tourney.

That would put more emphasis & importance on the world rankings overnight & the whole thing could be done & dusted in roughly one month.

I agree completely. It could get a bit silly with draws though, you'd have to ensure result wickets. Every match having only 1 team that needed to win and the other only needed to draw to progress would pretty much ruin it.

 

[Chewie]

timeless tests~!

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Every team plays each other and every day is on a different pitch so you can play all the matches simultaneously with teams rotating between pitches.

 

[aussie tragic]

Who's the genius that decided that a #1 side beating a #2 side 5-0 will give the same amount of points as #1 side beating a #8 side 2-0?

India are laughing with 120 points vs WI and will play 2 tests at home vs BD later this year for another 120 points.

 

[StephenZA]

Who's the genius that decided that a #1 side beating a #2 side 5-0 will give the same amount of points as #1 side beating a #8 side 2-0?

India are laughing with 120 points vs WI and will play 2 tests at home vs BD later this year for another 120 points.

And a dodgy SA line-up in India will help as well...