ICC mulls splitting points for abandoned World Test Championship fixtures

The International Cricket Council's (ICC) World Test Championship was brought to a temporary halt since March due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The action resumed in June with England hosting West Indies and Pakistan for a Test series as part of the World Test Championship. Apart from these three nations, no other countries were able to play the longer format of the game as the COVID-19 threat continues to play spoilsport.

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However, with the ICC planning to go ahead with the inaugural World Test Championship final in 2021 as scheduled originally, the cricket body is considering splitting points for all those World Test Championship bilateral series that had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The World Test Championship that was started in 2019, will have nine Test countries competing against each other in six series, which will be played in a home and away format for over a two-year period. The top two teams in the standings would then meet in the WTC final in June 2021. 

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Why is ICC planning to split points in WTC Championship?

According to a report published by ESPNCricinfo, the matter is likely to be brought into discussion during the ICC Committee meeting next month. The website has reported that apart from splitting points, the other option could be considering the points for only those matches that will actually be played by the end of March 2021. Based on those matches till March, the final positions on the points table could be computed based on the percentage of points the teams have won from the matches that they have contested.

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The report also states that since the major number of Tests were postponed this year because of the pandemic and it is still unclear when they might be rescheduled to, let alone whether they can be managed in within this WTC league cycle, which concludes at the end of March 2021.

The website has also mentioned that points splitting system would be within the regulations as they stand, which also means that all Tests in the cycle that can't be played, will be deemed draws. In case of a draw, both sides receive a third of the points available for a Test (120 points are available for every series).

Virat Kohli's team India leads WTC standings

As of for now, Virat Kohli's Team India leads the standings despite suffering a 0-2 series defeat in New Zealand in February. The Australian team, who will be hosting India later this year, reduced the gap after beating Pakistan (2-0) and New Zealand (3-0) to finish with a perfect home summer. Here's the updated ICC WTC standings.

Image Source: BCCI / Twitter