ICC announced venues for World Test Championship Final 2023 and 2025: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has recently locked the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground as the venue to host the final of the ICC World Test Championship 2023 and 2025. The decision was taken in the recently organised ICC’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Birmingham, England.
The summit clash of the ICC’s inaugural World Test Championship 2021 was held at Ageas Bowl, Southampton between India and New Zealand. The fixture was earlier scheduled to be held at Lord’s London, however, due to numerous covid-19 complications, the final was shifted to Southampton.
New Zealand are the reigning champions of the classic tournament, defeating India in the summit clash. The Championship is run for over two years and is participated by nine test-playing nations.
Each side plays three home and three away test series in the build-up to the World Test Championship. The teams are ranked according to their win percentage and the top two sides eventually meet in the final.
Notably, earlier ICC chairman Greg Barclay had indicated the high chances of Lord’s hosting both the WTC Finals. In the chat with BBC’s Test Match Special, Barclay said that due to the county championship in England, a number of venues automatically get out of ICC’s radar.
“It’s June so that rules out a number of other venues and we’ve got to get certainty around where it’s hosted. We’re out of Covid now so subject to arrangements being made and being able to be hosted out of Lord’s, I think that’s the intention,” Barclay had said
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ICC World Test Championship 2023 Points Table:
Currently, South Africa tops the WTC Points Table chart with an overall winning percentage of 71.43. The Proteas have won five tests and lost just two in three series played so far. Australia stands tall in the second spot with 70 per cent winning followed by Sri Lanka with a 53.33 winning percentage.
The Indian team is placed fourth in the table with a win percentage of 52.08 after four test series. India has won six test matches apart from losing four and ending two in a draw. Moreover, India has been found guilty of slow over rate owing to which five points have been docked from India’s total tally.
To play the final of the ICC WTC 2023, India needs to win all of its remaining Test matches, which is quite a task.
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