London, Jun 29: The International Cricket Council announced its much awaited World Test Championship which will have its inaugural edition in England during the month of June and July in the year 2017 while the second edition will be held in India in 2021.
According to ICC media release “The IDI Board confirmed that the ICC World Test Championship will be staged in 2017 and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will host the inaugural event in June/July 2017, while the second edition will be held in India in February/March 2021.”
ICC's Chief Executive David Richardson also put the speculations to rest about ICC Champions Trophy being continued.
“The ICC Champions Trophy in England and Wales was highly acclaimed and appreciated by all. However, the principle of one pinnacle global event for each of the three formats over a four-year cycle is a good one and, as such, the ICC Board has agreed to replace the Champions Trophy with the ICC World Test Championship,” Richardson was quoted as saying in the press release.
The ICC Board supported the strategy of ensuring an optimum balance between the three formats of the game - especially Test cricket - and approved the recommendation that the Full Members should play a minimum of 16 Tests in each four-year cycle.
In order to ensure that all ODIs played over the four-year cycle between ICC Cricket World Cups count towards a team's ranking, the ICC Board agreed to change the ODI rankings period from three years to four years.
For the sake of consistency, the ICC Board also agreed to change the calculation of the T20 rankings to cover the same period.
