"Very hard to have tournaments which last two years and keep interest in it with percentage points" - Alastair Cook calls for modified WTC format
Former England captain Alastair Cook called the World Test Championship (WTC) too long and confusing a tournament to follow with interest. He also proposed an alternative that combined all three formats, labelling it as 'World Championship'.
For the uninitiated, the WTC started in 2019 as a way of brining interest and relevance back to Test cricket. With points at stake for each match in a series, the idea was to ensure there were no dead-rubbers.
However, with the tournament being played in two-year cycles and the standings done based on percentage points, several fans and even experts have called the format confusing.
Speaking about the WTC ahead of the England-New Zealand second Test to TNT Sports as quoted by Wisden, Cook said:
"It's very hard to have tournaments which last two years and keep interest in it with percentage points, if I'm honest. I'm a big cricket fan and I follow the game a lot, and I don't understand it. Unfortunately, if you don't understand the tournament you're playing in and how it's worked out, it's not the easiest to follow."
He added:
"I think all international cricket, T20, one day and Test matches, should be put into a table for two years and see how that looks, because then it’s not a Test Championship, it’s a World Championship. That means every game you play has got relevance even if it’s just a T20. See how that works, because this has worked in one sense, you get one good final and everyone enjoys that. But in terms of generating real interest in it, I don’t think there’s real interest, no."
New Zealand were the innaugural WTC winners for the 2019-21 cycle, followed by Australia for the 2021-23 cycle.
With the top two teams on the points table advancing to the one-off final, both teams defeated India in their respective summit clashes.
"In all honesty, the World Test Championship, it is a bit confusing" - Ben Stokes
Alastair Cook's comments came on the back of current England captain Ben Stokes calling the WTC confusing and a tournament the side pays no attention to during their bilateral series.
England finished fourth in the 2019-21 and 2021-23 cycles, playing a substantially higher number of Tests comapred to most of the other participating teams.
Before the start of the ongoing England-New Zealand series, Stokes said:
"In all honesty, the World Test Championship, it is a bit confusing, it’s one of those where, you know we don’t really look at it, I don’t look at it. It’s one of those where over a long period of time if you’re playing really good cricket, you’re getting results that you want, you’ll end up finding yourself there in the final and in the mix."
He added:
"I can’t remember if I’ve ever even given any real time to be specifically thinking about the World Test Championship to be honest because it’s utterly confusing, we play a lot more cricket than anyone else does, that’s just what we try and focus on, you know, if we play well, we’ll be there or thereabouts but if we don’t, then we won’t be."
England are sixth in the ongoing WTC points table with 42.50 percentage points and effectively eliminated from final qualification.
They are currently leading the three-match New Zealand series, their last of the WTC cycle, by a 1-0 margin.