"Test Championship does not seem the priority"- England legend slams current system ahead of SA vs AUS 2025 WTC final
James Anderson felt that entering the World Test Championship (WTC) final was not on top of the priority list for England in the current system. The 42-year-old spoke about how England were playing right through the year and competing in more Test matches in difficult conditions while teams like South Africa had entered the final after playing two-match series.
Anderson felt that while the current set of administators were doing all they can to try and encourage Test cricket, the two-year WTC cycle was still not a priority.
"Obviously, you are trying to win every game, trying to win every series. But I dont know. It has not been a thing like let us get into that World Test Championship final. I think the difficult thing for England is that being a northern hemisphere team, we play 12 months a year. Play much more cricket than anyone else. It is hard to keep players fit.
"You look at the current cycle and South Africa got into the final and the teams they played, they played two Test match series against teams that are not necessarily the strongest Test teams in the world. We have five Test matches in India, we are playing a minimum of three-Test series so we have played a lot more games and in difficult conditions and I just feel like it is something that is not top of the priority list. Under the current regime, they want to be entertaining, they want to promote Test cricket and encourage people to watch but at the minute, Test Championship does not seem the priority," Anderson told TalkSport.
James Anderson questions unequal number of matches played by all teams in WTC cycle
The World Test Championship cycle was first introduced in 2019 as a means to make the matches played in the longest format more meaningful. James Anderson felt that the existing system was flawed and needed to be looked at.
"Can you imagine the Premier League where Manchester City play 60 games and Nottingham Forest play 12? It is very flawed and that needs to be figured out. It needs to be fairer and then maybe more of the bigger nations that dont play a lot would be more interested in it," Anderson said.
Australia and South Africa will square off in the 2025 WTC final, starting at Lord's on June 11. The former won the mace by beating India in the final in 2023 at The Oval.