WTC final is a moment for Test cricket to shine in a bustling world

Daily Maverick

11-06-2025

Australia and South Africa will contest the third staging of the World Test Championship Final at Lord's, starting on Wednesday.
The World Test Championship (WTC) might be the most convoluted 'World Cup' in sport, given the unique nature of five-day cricket and the impossible task of shoehorning it neatly into a 30-40-day package.
But over the past two years, in this WTC cycle, the last two standing are South Africa and Australia. The cycle has thrown up a rivalry that has produced some of the best and most controversial Test cricket of the 21st century, which adds to its drama.
Yes, the tournament structure is not equal, or even equitable, given the routes the two teams came through to reach the one-off final at Lord's, but how could they be in this format?
South Africa played 12 matches in the cycle, while Australia played 19 (see explanation below). They didn't play the same opponents and series' were not equal in terms of number of matches. The structure of the WTC has been criticised, even by Wisden, cricket's unofficial holy book.
The scepticism over the format is valid, but there is no perfect solution for an imperfect format that requires one aspect more than most sports – time.
Survival
Test cricket, in broad terms, is on life support thanks to the rise of T20 leagues, and the iron grip on the game's economics by India, and to a lesser extent Australia and England.
At the start of the century there were nine capable Test playing nations with Zimbabwe on the cusp of becoming great.
As the game evolved into a shorter contest, and the big three took financial control of the sport, the likes of Zimbabwe, which had its own internal issues, were cast off.
A recent study and subsequent publication of the Global Game Structure Report by the World Cricketers' Association (WCA) found the current cricketing structure to be 'chaotic and confusing'.
The report warned that it was vital to protect the traditions of cricket with the need to adapt to a changing world.
Test cricket is the format under most threat. The report proposed a global calendar with designated scheduling windows, of four 21-day blocks, which are specific periods in the year when 'core international cricket' is prioritised.
That is another way of saying 'Test cricket must be given clear space.' It's an interesting proposal.
Yet, despite pressure from white ball cricket, the longest, purest, hardest, most inaccessible, and yet most absorbing form of the game still exists.
It shouldn't exist, in a world of one-minute soundbites and videos, and where a 240-character social media post is considered enough to settle complex geopolitical arguments. Yet it does.
Test cricket belongs more to the 19th century, never mind the 21st, but that only makes it more worthy of preservation. Maybe it's the one sport that can restore some civility and patience in the world by making people slow down, watch, and enjoy a narrative unfolding over days.
The foibles of the WTC qualification process notwithstanding, this final is important to Australia and South Africa. But it's also a vital moment for the sport to tip its cap to the past, and give a nod to the future, acknowledging the foundation that gave us T20 cricket, while championing the relevance of a five-day contest.
Criticism
The Proteas have borne the brunt of the criticism for making the final, via a supposedly less challenging road. That is open to debate.
The reality though, is that when it really mattered, when their backs were to the wall after a slow start to the current cycle, South Africa won six Tests in a row. They earned the right to be there.
Proteas coach Shukri Conrad became testy this week at the line of interrogation, questioning South Africa's credentials as worthy WTC finalists.
'I'm tired of speaking about it, to be honest,' Conrad said before a training session on Monday.
'We're here and that's all that matters. We get a chance to walk away as the World Test champions, playing Australia. It doesn't get any bigger than that. What's gone before counts for absolutely nothing at the minute.'
Economics meant that South Africa's top Test players stayed at home to compete in the 2024 SA20 rather than tour New Zealand for three Tests at the beginning of the current WTC qualification cycle.
That's a direct result of the game being dominated by the big three, and an example of the sacrifices the likes of South Africa had to make.
Reaching the WTC Final, in that context, is perhaps a much greater achievement than it appears.
Australia captain Pat Cummins, in an extensive interview with the Guardian, admitted to some surprise to being up against the Proteas at Lord's.
'In some ways you expect India to be around. England have been quite strong at home and New Zealand always seem to get to finals. But the same case could be made for South Africa in ICC events. We just don't see a lot of them in Test cricket but it's nice and different to an Australia-India final,' Cummins told The Guardian.
'You can only beat who you come up against. Our route to the final was pretty tough, but I don't blame South Africa for having a different route.'
Not all paths are the same, but these two teams have converged on Lord's in a match that should remind a bustling world that sometimes, slower is better. DM
WTC FINAL QUALIFICATION BREAKDOWN
1. The League Stage (2023-2025)
Participating Teams: Nine out of the 12 Test-playing nations participate in each WTC cycle. Each team plays six series – three at home and three away – against different opponents. The number of matches in each series can vary from two to five.
Points System:
Points for a Win: 12 points
Points for a Tie: 6 points
Points for a Draw: 4 points
Points for a Loss: 0 points
Percentage of Points (PCT) System: This is the crucial factor for ranking. Teams are ranked based on the percentage of points won out of the total points available from the matches they've played. This system was introduced to account for the unequal number of matches played by different teams due to scheduling complexities.
2. Road to the final for Australia and South Africa
South Africa finished first in the league stage based on their percentage of points (69.44%). Their journey included:
Started with a 1-1 drawn series against India at home.
A 2-0 series defeat to New Zealand (when most front line players stayed home to compete in SA20).
A 1-0 series win in the West Indies.
Consecutive 2-0 wins against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
A 2-0 home series win against Pakistan, including a decisive two-wicket victory that sealed their final spot.
Australia (Defending Champions) finished second with a percentage of points of 67.54%. Their path involved:
Starting with a 2-2 drawn Ashes series in England.
A 3-0 home whitewash against Pakistan.
A 1-1 home draw against the West Indies, which included a surprising loss.
A 2-0 away sweep against New Zealand.
A 3-1 home series win against India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which secured their spot in the final.
They closed out their campaign with a 2-0 win over Sri Lanka.