A cycle in progress
The fourth World Test Championship began on 17 June 2025 with Sri Lanka playing Bangladesh at Galle, three days before England and India started a five-Test series at Headingley that finished 2-2. It is scheduled to run until 13 June 2027, when the final will be played at The Oval, the ground that staged the second final in 2023. The dates for that match, 9 to 13 June with a reserve day, were confirmed by the ICC in July 2026.
Nothing about the structure has changed. Nine full members play six series each, three at home and three away, of between two and five Tests; there are 27 series and 71 league matches, four more than the last cycle; every match is worth 12 points and the table is ordered by the percentage of contested points won. The only addition is a formal set of tie-breakers, applied in order: series won, then percentage in away matches, then the ICC Test rankings as they stand on 30 April 2027. That the ICC felt the need to write them down says something about how close the previous cycle had been, South Africa having finished less than two percentage points ahead of Australia.
Where it stands
Thirty-three of the 71 matches had been played by early August 2026, and the table had a familiar shape at the top and an unfamiliar one below it. Australia had won seven of eight, taking the Frank Worrell Trophy 3-0 in the Caribbean in the summer of 2025 and then the Ashes 4-1 at home, England's single win coming in the fourth Test. South Africa, the holders, had won three of four. New Zealand had won four of six.
Bangladesh were fourth on 58.33 per cent from four matches, a position they had never held in any previous cycle, and one that four matches of a 71-match competition cannot be taken to mean very much.
England were seventh despite having played more Tests than anyone, and for the third cycle running the reason was partly self-inflicted: 14 points deducted for slow over rates, 12 of them at The Oval in June 2026 against New Zealand, a single penalty larger than any handed out in the two previous championships. Pakistan had lost eight points the same way at Mirpur and West Indies two in Sri Lanka.
Joe Root, who was the leading run-scorer of both the second and third cycles, again led the aggregate with 1,108 runs from 13 matches, with Harry Brook close behind. Mitchell Starc led the bowling with 46 wickets at 18.26, a return built largely on the Ashes.