World Test Championship

World Test Championship, organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC), has been touted as the premier championship for Cricket, designed to boost interest in Test cricket. The idea for a Test Championship was first proposed by Ali Bacher and Clive Lloyd at the ICC's conference in 1997. The latest incarnation of the World Test Championship was announced by the ICC in 2017.

The World Test Championship began on 1 August 2019, following the 50-overs World Cup in 2019, and culminated with a final in June 2021. Nine of the 12 Test-approved countries (Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Ireland will be excluded initially) were planned play three home and three away Test match series over the two years that count towards the championship.

As many of the planned series were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the points system to determine the championship table was modified. The top-two teams in April 2021 met two months later in the final.

Since then, the championship has been contested over successive two-year cycles, with the two highest-ranked teams meeting in a one-off final. The 2021–2023 edition was won by Australia and the 2023–2025 edition was won by South Africa.

World Test Championship Finals

A summary of every World Test Championship final to date:

Inaugural World Test Championship Final, 2021

The final of the 2019–2021 ICC World Test Championship was played from 18 to 23 June, 2021 at the Rose Bowl, Southampton, England, between India and New Zealand. New Zealand won by eight wickets (India 217 & 170, New Zealand 249 & 140/2).

2023 World Test Championship

The final of the 2021–2023 ICC World Test Championship was played from 7 to 11 June 2023 at The Oval, London, between Australia and India. Australia won the match by 209 runs.

Australia won by 209 runs. Travis Head (163) was named Player of the Match.

2025 World Test Championship

The final of the 2023–2025 ICC World Test Championship was played from 11 to 14 June 2025 at Lord's, London, between Australia and South Africa. South Africa won the match by 5 wickets to claim their maiden World Test Championship title. This is the team's first major ICC trophy since the 1998 Champions Trophy (then known as the ICC KnockOut). Aiden Markram was named Player of the Match for his second-innings 136.

Chasing a target of 282, South Africa reached 282/5 to win by 5 wickets. Key performances included Aiden Markram (136) and captain Temba Bavuma (66) for South Africa. Kagiso Rabada also took 5/51 in Australia's first innings, while Pat Cummins claimed 6/28 in South Africa's first innings.

2023–2025 Final Standings

The top two teams on the points table – South Africa and Australia qualified for the final. Rankings were decided by percentage of points won (PCT).

Previous Version

Before the ICC called it off in January 2014, The ICC World Test Championship was scheduled to be in 2017. Participants were to play a three-match Test championship from the first week of June 2017 until its third week. Originally, England and Wales were the hosts of the tournament. They were instead awarded the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. 

The format was believed to involve an initial league stage, played over a cycle of four years, involving all current test cricket nations of the ICC - Australia, India, England, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, West Indies, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

The ICC had also planned to stage a second Test Championship in India in February to March 2021.