The arithmetic gets simpler
The first championship had been decided by a points system that valued a win in a two-Test series at two and a half times a win in a five-Test one, and then abandoned mid-cycle for a percentage table when the pandemic wrecked the schedule. For the second edition the ICC started from the percentage and worked backwards. Every match was worth 12 points, whatever series it belonged to: 12 for a win, four each for a draw, six each for a tie. Teams were ranked by the share of the points they had contested for and won, so a side that played 12 matches could be compared with one that played 22 without any adjustment. It has not been changed since.
The over-rate penalty stayed, and it decided nothing but it cost England a great deal. They lost 22 points across the cycle, eight of them in a single Test at the Gabba in December 2021, and finished fourth on 46.97 per cent having won ten matches and lost eight. India lost five points the same way and still finished second.
Two years, then five days
Australia were the most consistent side of the cycle without ever being overwhelming: 11 wins, three defeats and five draws from 19 matches, a run that included retaining the Ashes 4-0 at home in 2021-22. India reached the final second, and not by their own hand: their place was confirmed on 13 March 2023 when New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by two wickets at Hagley Oval, a result that put Sri Lanka out of reach of second place.
The final at The Oval was effectively settled on the first day. Australia were 76/3 when Travis Head joined Steve Smith; they were 361/3 when Head was out for 163, having faced 174 balls and hit 25 fours. Smith made 121 and Australia reached 469. India replied with 296, of which Ajinkya Rahane made 89, and were made to field again while Australia built a lead of 443 before declaring on 270/8.
India began the last day 164/3, needing 280 more with seven wickets in hand, and were bowled out for 234. Scott Boland removed Virat Kohli, Nathan Lyon took four wickets, and the match ended forty minutes after lunch.
What Australia collected
The win completed a set. Australia had won the 50-over World Cup five times, the T20 World Cup in 2021 and the Champions Trophy twice, and were now the first men's side to have won every global tournament the ICC has run. Pat Cummins, who had captained the side for eighteen months, said afterwards that the Test mace mattered most to a group that had grown up in Test cricket. Five months later Australia beat India again, in the World Cup final in Ahmedabad.