ICC World Test Championship 2019-2021: Full schedule of cricket’s longest format

International Cricket Council (ICC) has come up with a World Test Championship to make the longer and traditional format of the game more relevant.

ICC had approved the idea for a World Test Championship way back in 2010. But attempts to kickstart it failed in 2013 and 2017. The first match of the Championship will be played during Ashes Series from August 1 to 5 at Edgbaston Cricket Ground between England and Australia, who played the first officially recognised Test match way back in 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

Team India will start their campaign with a two-away series in the West Indies, starting August 22.

In the Test Championship, nine top-ranked teams in the ICC Test ranking will play six series each — three at home and three away — against mutually chosen opponents over the two-year cycle. Two latest members of the elite club, Afghanistan and Ireland, and Zimbabwe are not part of it.

Every series in the championship is worth 120 points, irrespective of the number of Tests in it. So, a team can score a maximum of 720 points over a cycle. The two sides with the most points at the end of the cycle will contest the final in England in June 2021 to decide the Champion.

Points Distribution of World Test Championship:

Here is a list of complete fixtures of the World Test Championship in the 2019-21 cycle:

India

July-August 2019: 2 Tests v West Indies (A)
October-November 2019: 3 Tests v South Africa (H)
November 2019: 2 Tests v Bangladesh (H)

February 2020: 2 Tests v New Zealand (A)
December 2020: 4 Tests v Australia (A)
January-February 2021: 5 Tests v England (H)

England

July-August 2019: 5 Tests v Australia (H)
December 2019-January 2020: 4 Tests v South Africa (A)
March 2020: 2 Tests v Sri Lanka (A)

June-July 2020: 3 Tests v West Indies (H)
July-August 2020: 3 Tests v Pakistan (H)
January-February 2021: 5 Tests v India (A)

Australia

July-August-September 2019: 5 Tests v England (A)
November 2019: 2 Tests v Pakistan (H)
December 2019-January 2020: 3 Tests v New Zealand (H)

February 2020: 2 Tests v Bangladesh (A)
November-December 2020: 4 Tests v India (H)
February-March 2021: 3 Tests v South Africa (A)

South Africa

October 2019: 3 Tests v India (A)
December 2019-January 2020: 4 Tests v England (H)
July-August 2020: 2 Tests v West Indies (A)

January 2021: 2 Tests v Sri Lanka (H)
January-February 2021: 2 Tests v Pakistan (A)
February-March 2021: 3 Tests v Australia (H)

New Zealand

July-August 2019: 2 Tests v Sri Lanka (A)
December 2019-January 2020: 3 Tests v Australia (A)
February 2020: 2 Tests v India (H)

August-September 2020: 2 Tests v Bangladesh (A)
November-December 2020: 3 Tests v West Indies (H)
December 2020: 2 Tests v Pakistan (H)

Sri Lanka

July-August 2019: 2 Tests v New Zealand (H)
October 2019: 2 Tests v Pakistan (A)
March-April 2020: 2 Tests v England (H)

July-August 2020: 3 Tests v Bangladesh (H)
January 2021: 2 Tests v South Africa (A)
February-March 2021: 2 Tests v West Indies (A)

Pakistan

October 2019: 2 Tests v Sri Lanka (H)
November-December 2019: 2 Tests v Australia (A)
January-February 2020: 2 Tests v Bangladesh (H)

July-August 2020: 3 Tests v England (A)
December 2020: 2 Tests v New Zealand (A)
January-February 2021: 2 Tests v South Africa (H)

Bangladesh

November 2019: 3 Tests v India (A)
January-February 2020: 2 Tests v Pakistan (A)
February 2020: 2 Tests v Australia (H)

July-August 2020: 3 Tests v Sri Lanka (A)
August-September 2020: 2 Tests v New Zealand (H)
January-February 2021: 3 Tests v Windies (H)

West Indies

July-August 2019: 2 Tests v India (H)
June-July 2020: 3 Tests v England (A)
July-August 2020: 2 Tests v South Africa (H)

November-December 2020: 3 Tests v New Zealand (A)
January-February 2021: 3 Tests v Bangladesh (A)
February-March 2021: 2 Tests v Sri Lanka (H)