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A three-match World Test Championship (WTC) final spanning nations, or more accurately continents, has been suggested by Nathan Lyon. The Australian spinner feels that a multi-match structure would better represent the spirit of Test cricket than a single-match competition where a series’ fate can be decided by a single session.
India made it to the World Test Championship final twice, but they lost both times—against Australia and New Zealand. The finals were held in England, under unfavourable circumstances for the Indian squad. They are on the verge of qualifying for the third final, which takes place at Lord’s on June 11.
“One thing I would like to see, I’d like to see the World Test Championship Final potentially in a three-match series. That may become a little bit better because you potentially can lose a Test match in one session where [in a three-match series] it may allow teams to bounce back and show their dominance and win 3-0. We’re pretty time-poor anyway and that’s going to be a challenge but that’s one thing I would change,” Lyon, the best Australian spinner, since Shane Warne, with 530 wickets, tells ICC.
Lyon expanded the idea saying the matches can be in India, Australia and England. “You potentially could go one in England, one in India, one in Australia, so you have all different conditions, but obviously, the timing of that changes everything. I don’t think we’re going to get on the MCG in the middle of August, just putting it out there.”
Lyon underlined that every match in the two-year cycle stays competitive and important because the World Test Championship format does away with “dead rubbers” in individual series. He thought back to that famous game earlier this year in Brisbane against the West Indies, where Shamar Joseph’s outstanding bowling performance proved to be the difference between Australia’s defeat and victory in an exciting encounter.
“Oh, yeah. I’ll just say it’s [World Test Championship] the pinnacle for Test cricket. People say it’s sometimes a dead rubber when you turn 2-0 up in a three-match series or whatever it may be. But I feel like there’s no more dead rubbers. I’ve never considered them dead rubbers, but there’s always points on offer now. You look at us last year losing against the West Indies at the Gabba hurt us a fair bit.”
Lyon regarded the World Test Championship as the ultimate equivalent of a World Cup in Test cricket. “It’s not tournament play. You can’t just be scraping into the semi-finals and losing two games or what not. You’ve got to be consistent over the two years of the cycle,” the 36-year-old off-spinner from New South Wales said.