International Cricket Council to approve nine-team test championship, report says

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is set to approve plans for its long-awaited World Test Championship at a meeting in New Zealand this week, it was reported on Monday.

The sport’s governing body has argued for years that a test championship is needed to boost the five-day format’s popularity as crowds and television viewers flock to the big-hitting Twenty20 version of the game.

But squabbling over formats and fears that some nations will be disadvantaged have twice stymied efforts to launch a league structure since 2010.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that plans for a nine-nation test championship were now well advanced and the ICC was set to give the concept a green light on Friday at a meeting in Auckland.

It said the first edition of the competition would run over a two-year cycle beginning in 2019, culminating in a final between the top two teams at Lord’s.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said the league competition would give test series a broader international “context”, making them more than stand-alone bilateral contests.

“You’re also creating structure in such a way that you no longer have games without meaning. They are all part of a league championship,” he told the Herald.