World Test Championship (WTC) next cycle begins

Sri Lanka’s two-Test series at home against Bangladesh, which begins on 17 June, is the first contest of the 2025-27 cycle and soon overlaps with a five-Test showdown between England and India

HYDERABAD:  Test Championship (WTC) 2025 winners, the next cycle begins in earnest with a string of high-profile series kicking off proceedings.

Sri Lanka’s two-Test series at home against Bangladesh, which begins on 17 June, is the first contest of the 2025-27 cycle and soon overlaps with a five-Test showdown between England and India.

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The two teams will go head-to-head at Headingley, Edgbaston, Lord’s, Old Trafford and The Oval in the coming weeks.

Beaten finalists Australia begin their bid to regain their WTC crown in the Caribbean as they take on West Indies in a three-Test series for the right to lift the Frank Worrell Trophy.

As per the previous cycles, nine teams will contest the WTC and each nation will play six other sides – three home and three away – over the course of the two-year period.

Australia to play 11 matches at home, including an Ashes series against England later this year and four Tests against New Zealand, and the same number away.

England to play 11 Tests on their own turf and 10 on the road, visiting beaten WTC Final 2025 finalists South Africa for a three-Test tour in December 2026.

India will play 18 matches in this cycle, split evenly home and away, with 2021 champions New Zealand playing in 16.

The points percentage system used in the previous two editions will determine the leaderboard with teams getting 12 points for a win, six for a tie and four for a draw.

“The third edition of the World Test Championship came to a fantastic conclusion at Lord’s as Australia and South Africa played out a classic encounter and we now look forward to the next instalment,” ICC chair Jay Shah said.

“This Championship continues to invigorate Test match cricket, and four of the nine competing nations have now reached a Final over the first three cycles,” he said.

“I would like to thank the Member Boards for their continued support of this exciting concept and wish the players all the very best as they begin their journey towards the next Final in 2027,” Jay Shah said.