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Next World Test Championship with 12 teams, two-tier model scrapped: Report

Aakash Saini

South Africa with 2025 ICC WTC [Source: AP]South Africa with 2025 ICC WTC [Source: AP]

The next World Test Championship (WTC) cycle will reportedly be played between all 12 member nations in one division. Earlier reports indicated that the ICC was planning to split nations into two different tiers for the 2027-29 Championship. However, the plans failed to gain widespread support, prompting the ICC to scrap the model.

Moreover, the ICC ODI Super League might also be revived for the upcoming seasons.

ICC to expand World Test Championship

As reported by ESPNCricinfo, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is aiming to expand the next WTC cycle to 12 teams. So far, each of the four WTC cycles, including the ongoing one, have been played between nine teams.

The expansion would mean that the WTC 2027-29 cycle would see the championship debuts of fellow Test playing nations like Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Ireland. The emerging reports also coincided with the scrapping of ICC’s planned decision of conducting a two-tier WTC model, considering the same failed to garner enough support from concerned officials and member nations.

While speaking with ESPNCricinfo, a board director said that the expansion would mean that every Test playing nation would get to play WTC matches.

The next WTC cycle is scheduled to commence from July 2027 onwards, shortly after the 2025-27 final. The exact number of fixtures for each team under the new cycle, however, is not confirmed yet.

Apart from expanding the WTC, the ICC is also planning to revive the ICC ODI Super League, which was originally scrapped following the conclusion of the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India. The 13-team league was launched back in mid-2020 with an aim of creating more context for the 50-overs international format.