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Test cricket will be back on the radar over the coming months as teams battle it out for coveted points in order to go to the World Test Championship final the following year. In the 2023–25 cycle, only 13 of the 27 series have been played, giving a few clubs the chance to advance higher in the standings. Here is a glance at the teams’ positions in the battle for the top two.
India is now atop the WTC table, having amassed 68.52% of the points possible from nine Test matches, or 74 out of a possible 108 points. However, they will face a challenging visit of Australia in November. They have five home Test matches scheduled against Bangladesh and New Zealand before that series.
In order for India to place higher than 60% (58.8 in 2023 qualified them for the final), they must receive 63 of the 120 possible points from these 10 tests. (A victory earns 12 points, while a tie earns four.) India can maintain their 60%+ ranking with five victories and a draw (provided they aren’t deducted points for infractions like a slow over rate).
West Indies and Australia are the only two teams in this cycle to have completed four of the six series. They are now ranked second with 62.5%, but how they perform against India at home—a team that has defeated them in their last four Test series, including two in Australia—will have a significant impact on their final standing. They want 47 additional points from seven Test matches to finish within sixty percent, which they may obtain with four victories or three victories and three draws.
New Zealand’s current Test record of three wins, three defeats, and 50% indicates that they need to improve significantly to achieve an overall score of 60%. They must receive at least 65 out of the 96 points that are available in their eight remaining tests. It will only need five victories and a handful of draws, but considering that three of the eight Tests are in India, that seems like a very difficult task.
Despite having played in just two of the six series, Sri Lanka has the same 50% score as New Zealand. In order to finish above 60%, they must earn 70 of the 108 points available in the nine remaining Tests of this cycle. They can’t afford to lose too many points in the three-Test away series in England since it translates to six victories, or five wins and three draws.
With 12 Tests this cycle, South Africa and Bangladesh are the two countries playing less matches than England, who have 22. Making every game matter is even more important, as South Africa has only gained 28 points from their six Test matches thus far, 16 of which came from their 1-0 series victory in the West Indies last week. They need five victories, or 59 more points from six Tests, to reach 60%. Their next four Test matches are against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, where they will need to win all four games to advance to the away series in Bangladesh.
Pakistan has only participated in two of the six series in this cycle, along with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Their only remaining away series is in South Africa. Since both of them were away, in Sri Lanka and Australia, they have the chance to take advantage of home conditions in the three series against Bangladesh, England, and the West Indies.
Pakistan has to score 79 of the 108 points they can earn from the nine Tests they still have left to reach 60%. Seven victories, or six wins with a few draws, will get them those. That seems like a rather simple equation, especially considering that they have exactly seven home games left.
England’s far higher percentage of 48.72 would have resulted from a slow over rate, which cost them 19 penalty points. To finish above 60%, they now need to score 102 out of 108 points in the nine Tests that remain. They will receive 100 if they win eight of the tests and tie one. They can give up six more penalty points and still finish on the right side of sixty, thus they must win every Test that is left in this cycle.
Only one of Bangladesh’s last four series will be played at home, against South Africa. They require 75 points—six victories and one draw—out of a possible 96 points from eight Tests to finish at 60%.
West Indies have already played four series and have only scored 20 points out of 108. Even if they win their last four Tests, they can only finish on 43.59%.