WTC final: ICC revisiting "joint winners" and "reserve day" clauses - Reports
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is reportedly revisiting a couple of crucial clauses in the playing conditions for the World Test Championship (WTC) final between India squad for WTC final and New Zealand next month as per WTC final schedule.
Weeks ahead of the summit match, the world body is unsure about its original plan to declare both teams "joint winners" in case of a draw and its "reserve day" to minimize the impact of bad weather.
According to a report in the Times of India, the 'joint winners' plan isn't sitting well with the officials and they are set to discuss an approach to maximize the chances for a result.
"The idea of having joint winners also doesn't sit very well given it's the first time a WTC final is being played. So, one has to have maximum options open to get a result out of the match. The ICC committee is working on it and it should be out this week," an ICC source told TOI.
The WTC final between India and New Zealand squad for WTC final will be played on June 18-22 at the Hampshire Bowl in Southampton. June 23 was kept as a reserve day to make up for any hours lost due to adverse weather conditions in the first five days.
"The idea was to ensure that the match is played out in the 30 hours in the first five days. And the reserve day would come into play only if a total of 30 hours were not played in the first five days. That would have meant that the result had a lesser chance of being influenced by weather," the source explained.
However, the ICC has now removed this rider from its official website. It is learned that there's some ambiguity over the hours lost due to slow overrates and the plan needs some reconsideration before the match.
Next WTC's fate to be discussed on June 1
There are also doubts over the second edition of the WTC. The ICC had originally announced that the inaugural tournament (2019-21) will be backed up by a second cycle in 2021-23. The five-Test rubber between India and England was supposed to be the first series in the new edition.
Also see the latest updates on WTC final live score.
However, an official announcement is yet to come. Moreover, the new ICC chairman Greg Barclay made his skepticism about the WTC public last year by saying the tournament hasn't achieved what it intended to, fuelling more speculation over its future.
All of this will be brought to the table in an upcoming ICC meeting on June 1.