The World Test Championship state of play

ICC WORLD TEST CHAMPIONSHIP 2021-23 LATEST STANDINGS

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The 2021-22 season of international Test cricket that began with India's exhilarating tour of England came to an end with South Africa's thumping 2-0 win over Bangladesh at home.

In between, the World Test Championship has witnessed some exciting contests, including West Indies' final-wicket heist against Pakistan in Jamaica, Australia's historic Test win against Pakistan, Bangladesh upsetting New Zealand away from home and many more.

The standings too have started to take shape, with Australia leading the pack with point percentage of 75 while their arch-rivals England linger at the bottom with 12.50%.

Heading into the next season that is set to begin next month with Bangladesh welcoming Sri Lanka for two Tests, let's take a look at how the teams are positioned in WTC23.

75% of possible points - five wins and three draws in eight Test matches
Remaining series: Sri Lanka (away - two Tests), India (away - four Tests), West Indies (home - two Tests), South Africa (home - three Tests)

Australia might have narrowly missed out on making the finals of the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship but they look on course to making it this time around.

They made most of the home advantage with a 4-0 Ashes win over England and followed it up with an entertaining 1-0 win over Pakistan in a historic series.

Australia have come out without a loss in two series that would have been considered as challenging when the tours were announced. Of the remaining four series, the tour of India will likely be the most challenging, but the recent performances of Usman Khawaja and others with the bat and the overall class of the bowling attack will give them huge confidence going into the business end of WTC23.

71.42 % of possible points - five wins and two losses in seven Test matches
Remaining series: England (away - three Tests), West Indies (home - two Tests), Australia (away - three Tests)

South Africa have continued to build on the momentum from the comeback series win over India and find themselves second in the WTC23 standings.

They came back from 1-0 down to beat New Zealand in the second Test to draw the series 1-1 away from home before bulldozing Bangladesh in home conditions, with spin playing a major part.

The emergence of Keegan Petersen and Marco Jansen has strengthened both the batting and bowling of the Proteas which already has pillars such as Dean Elgar, Temba Bavuma, and Kagiso Rabada, among others.

If South Africa beat England and West Indies in upcoming series, they could very well be fighting Australia for the top two spots in what is scheduled to be the last series of the WTC23 cycle.

58.33% of possible points - six wins, three losses and two draws in 11 Test matches
Remaining series: England (away - one rescheduled Test from 2021 August-September series), Australia (home - four Tests), Bangladesh (away - two Tests)

The finalists of the inaugural World Test Championship got off to a great start in this cycle of the WTC, leading the incomplete England series 2-1 and before beating New Zealand 1-0.

The 2-1 series loss to South Africa dented India, though they managed to bounce back with a 2-0 sweep against Sri Lanka, with Rohit Sharma taking over from Virat Kohli.

India’s road to the finals, if they do manage to qualify, looks a little tricky. They will play the one-off Test against England before hosting current WTC leaders Australia at home. Bangladesh too have been a difficult team to beat on home soil.

They will be banking on their star bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who is currently the leading wicket-taker in WTC23, in the upcoming series and will be hoping to make consecutive finals under new leadership.

52.38% of possible points - three wins, two losses and two draws in eight Test matches
Remaining series: Sri Lanka (away - two Tests), England (home - three Tests), New Zealand (home - two Tests)

Pakistan started the WTC23 campaign with two away series. They drew 1-1 against West Indies before whitewashing Bangladesh 2-0. They were considered favourites against Australia at home, only to lose 1-0.

Despite the defeat at home, Pakistan are in a great position play all of their remaining series in the sub-continent.

Led by ICC ODI Player of the Year 2021 Babar Azam and the bowling spearheaded by ICC Player of the Year 2021 Shaheen Shah Afridi, who is also the second-highest wicket-taker in the WTC23, Pakistan have a very good chance of challenging for the top two spots in the standings.

50% of possible points - two wins, two losses in four Test matches
Remaining series: Bangladesh (away - two Tests), Australia (home - two Tests), Pakistan (home - two Tests), New Zealand (away - two Tests)

Of all the teams so far, Sri Lanka have played the fewest matches so far, having played just four games. They have won two and lost two so far. They dominated West Indies at home but were humbled by India away.

The good news for them is they still have a long road ahead of them with four series remaining, two of which they will play at home and one other in the sub-continent.

Dimuth Karunaratne has been leading by example so far for Sri Lanka and they will heavily depend on their skipper if they are to scale the WTC23 standings in the coming series.

38.88% of possible points - two wins, three losses and one draw in six Test matches
Remaining series: England (away - three Tests), Sri Lanka (home - two Tests), Pakistan (away - two Tests)

The defending champions find themselves in a spot of bother in the WTC23 standings, currently sixth after failing to win a single series they have played so far.

Their first series was against the team they beat in the finals of WTC21, India, away from home. Though they managed to draw the first Test, they were comprehensively beaten in the second.

They were stunned by Bangladesh at home in the first Test of the series but managed to redeem themselves in the next game with an innings win.

In the series against South Africa, they let go of 1-0 series lead as they lost the second Test by a huge margin of 198 runs.

Elbow issues have kept their star player Kane Williamson out, featuring in one of their first six Tests. In his absence, Tom Latham has filled the void of captain as well as their go-to batter, with 446 runs in six matches so far.

The road ahead is going to be quite challenging for the Black Caps, who have two series in the subcontinent.

35.71% of possible points - two wins, three losses and two draws in seven Test matches
Remaining series: Bangladesh (away - two Tests), South Africa (away - two Tests), Australia (away - two Tests)

West Indies began their WTC23 journey on a high, with a final-wicket heist against Pakistan at home. Unfortunately, they couldn’t build on it as they lost three consecutive games, one against Pakistan with the series ending 1-1 and two against Sri Lanka that saw them being swept 2-0.

They showed a lot more fight against England at home, winning the final game after drawing the first two to take the series 1-0.

The Windies have a tall order ahead of them, which includes away series against South Africa and tournament leaders Australia.

They have been led by example by Kraigg Brathwaite, who is currently the fifth-highest run-getter in WTC23 so far. Youngster Jayden Seales has been impressive with the ball but will need more players to put their hands up in upcoming series.

16.66% of possible points - one win, fives losses in six Test matches
Remaining series: Sri Lanka (home - two Tests), West Indies (away - two Tests), India (home - two Tests)

Bangladesh have endured a very difficult start to their WTC23 campaign, losing five of the six games so far.

They were convincingly beaten at home by Pakistan 2-0 before they pulled off one of the greatest upsets in recent Test history. Given no chance against New Zealand in difficult away conditions, they made a statement of intent by beating the Black Caps by eight wickets in the first Test.

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However, that has been the only high point of their campaign so far. Since then, they lost to New Zealand by an innings in a series that ended 1-1 and were humbled by South Africa 2-0 recently, where they managed to score 53 and 80 in the two second innings of the series.

Though Bangladesh have two of the remaining three series at home, they will have to play top-notch cricket if they are looking to ascend the table.

12.50% of possible points - one win, seven losses and three draws in 11 Test matches
India (home - one rescheduled Test from 2021 August-September series), New Zealand (home - three Tests), South Africa (home - three Tests), Pakistan (away - three Tests)

It would be an understatement to say that England have endured a nightmarish start to WTC23. After playing 11 games, they have only one win to show and to make matters worse, they have been docked 10 points so far as a penalty for maintaining slow over-rate.

WTC23 kicked off with England hosting India for a five-match series. England’s innings win in Headingly was sandwiched between two losses in Lord’s and The Oval. India currently lead the series 2-1 which will be completed in July this year.

Things went from bad to worse for England when they were humbled by arch-rivals Australia 4-0 in the Ashes. Though they did show some fight against West Indies in the first two of the three Tests, they eventually crumbled in the final game.

Joe Root has been one of their few bright spots – he is currently the top run-scorer of the WTC23 cycle with 1175 runs.

Of the remaining 10 games, England will play seven at home, though they will have to play out of their skin to ascend the table. At this point, it does look unlikely that they will finish in the top two spots.