International cricket Council has announced latest ICC Test Championship 2019-2021 which is all set to begin from 1st August 2019. There will be 73 matches between top 9 teams in Test Ranking and Final will be played in 2021 in England. The ICC Test Championship was planned to be started in 2013 followed by 2017 but cancelled twice due to ICC Champions Trophy and busy schedules of the teams. Icc Test Championship schedule is out and will commence with effect from 1st August when England will play Australia in the 1st test of Ashes in Edgbaston.
ICC Test Championship Format Details
Pakistan and India will not meet each other unless and until both teams reaches the final of Championship. Each team will play against 6 teams of total 8 teams. Each team is planned to play 3 series at home and three away. There will be 2 to 5 test in each series and a team can score maximum 120 points in each series. Hence, the number of matches of each team will not be same. At the end of the league stage, the top two teams will meet in the final.
Point Scoring Formula
As the number of matches are not same for all team, so, ICC has decided to award points on the basis of each match instead of the result of series. This format will eliminate the inequality due to number of matches. If there are two matches in each series than points will be divided on 50% each match while points will be divided on 20% basis if the series contain 5 matches series.
Here is the detail of point distribution
| No of Matches in Each Series | Points for each win | Points for a tie | Points for a draw | Points for a defeat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 60 | 30 | 20 | 0 |
| 3 | 40 | 20 | 13.3 | 0 |
| 4 | 30 | 15 | 10 | 0 |
| 5 | 24 | 12 | 8 | 0 |
Hence, the teams who will play less matches in a series have more chances to earn points. The team which will be behind the required over rate will be penalized in deducting 2 points from the points table.
Participants of ICC Test Championship
The following teams will be participant of ICC Test Championship 2019-21
| Australia | Bangladesh | England | India | New Zealand |
| Pakistan | South Africa | Sri Lanka | West Indies |
ICC Test Championship Schedule
There will be 73 matches in ICC Test Championship and the teams will play following number of matches:
| Team | No of matches |
|---|---|
 Australia | 19 |
 Bangladesh | 14 |
 England | 22 |
 India | 18 |
 New Zealand | 14 |
 Pakistan | 13 |
 South Africa | 16 |
 Sri Lanka | 13 |
 West Indies | 15 |
As we mentioned above that each team will play 6 teams out of 8. So, here are the teams which will not play the other two in ICC Test Championship:-
| Team | Will not play |
|---|---|
| Australia | Sri Lanka and West Indies |
| England | Bangladesh and New Zealand |
| West Indies | Australia and Pakistan |
| Pakistan | India and West Indies |
| Sri Lanka | Australia and India |
| New Zealand | England and South Africa |
| India | Pakistan and Sri Lanka |
| South Africa | Bangladesh and New Zealand |
| Bangladesh | England and South Africa |
ICC Test Championship Schedule of Australia
Australia will start their campaign in ICC Test championship against England in August 2019 from the Ashes 2019. The second series will be against Pakistan in an home test series. Australia will play 19 tests in ICC Test Championship 2019-20. The full detail is below:-
| Against | No of Test | Scheduled in | Home / Away |
| England | 5 | July – September 2019 | Away |
| Pakistan | 2 | November 2019 | Home |
| New Zealand | 3 | December – January 2019-20 | Home |
| Bangladesh | 2 | February 2020 | Away |
| India | 4 | November – December 2020 | Home |
| South Africa | 3 | February – March 2021 | Away |
ICC Test Championship Schedule of Pakistan
Pakistan schedule of ICC Test Championship 2019-21 contain 13 matches. The men in green will play Sril lanka in October 2019 in home test series. Pakistan will play 6 tests in home series and 7 test matches in away test series played till 2021. The Green shirts will play Australia, Bangladesh, England, New Zealand, South Africa, and Sri lanka during this Championship. The schedule is here:-
| Against | No of Test | Scheduled in | Home / Away |
| Sri lanka | 2 | October 2019 | Home |
| Australia | 2 | November- December 2019 | Away |
| Bangladesh | 2 | January – February 2020 | Home |
| England | 3 | July-August 2020 | Away |
| New Zealand | 2 | December 2020 | Away |
| South Africa | 2 | January – February 2021 | Home |
ICC Test Championship Schedule of India
India will play 18 test matches during their tenure in ICC Test Championship 2010-21. India will play 10 matches during their home series and 8 in away series.
The Test No 1 team will start their progress against West Indies in on-going series against West Indies. India’s ICC Championship Schedule is here under:-
| Against | No of Test | Scheduled in | Home / Away |
| West Indies | 2 | July-August 2019 | Away |
| South Africa | 3 | October-November 2019 | Home |
| Bangladesh | 2 | November 2019 | Home |
| New Zealand | 2 | February 2020 | Away |
| Australia | 4 | December 2020 | Away |
| England | 5 | January – February 2021 | Home |
ICC Test Championship Schedule of England
England will play 22 test matches during ICC Test championship 2019 starting from July 2019 against Australia. England will play 11 test matches in home series and 11 in away series.
England will play most number of matches in this championship. The detail of them is below:-
| Against | No of Test | Scheduled in | Home / Away |
| Australia | 5 | July-August 2019 | Home |
| South Africa | 4 | Dec-January 2019-20 | Away |
| Sri lanka | 2 | March 2020 | Away |
| West Indies | 3 | June-July 2020 | Home |
| Pakistan | 3 | July-August 2020 | Home |
| India | 5 | January – February 2021 | Away |
ICC Test Championship Schedule of New Zealand
New Zealand will play 14 test matches in ICC Championship 2019 starting from their away series against Sri Lanka in July-August 2019. Out of 14 test matches, 7 will be played in home series and 7 in away series.
New Zealand will play against Sri lanka Australia, India, Bangladesh, West Indies and Pakistan. The detail is below:-
| Against | No of Test | Scheduled in | Home / Away |
| Sri Lanka | 2 | July-August 2019 | Away |
| Australia | 3 | December 2019 | Away |
| India | 2 | February 2020 | Home |
| Bangladesh | 2 | August -Sept 2020 | Away |
| West Indies | 3 | Nov- December 2020 | Home |
| Pakistan | 2 | December 2020 | Home |
ICC Test Championship Schedule of South Africa
South Africa will play 16 matches in their period during championship starting from away series against India in October 2019. Out of 16 test matches, 9 will be played in home series and 7 will be played in away series.
The home series are against England, Sri Lanka and Australia. However, South Africa will play India, West Indies and Pakistan in their away series. Here is the full detail:-
| Against | No of Test | Scheduled in | Home / Away |
| India | 3 | October 2019 | Away |
| England | 4 | Dec- January 2019-20 | Home |
| West Indies | 2 | July- August 2020 | Away |
| Sri Lanka | 2 | January 2021 | Home |
| Pakistan | 2 | January-Feb 2021 | Away |
| Australia | 3 | February-March 2021 | Home |
ICC Test Championship Schedule of Bangladesh
Bangladesh will play 14 test matches in their championship starting from their series against India in November 2019. 7 matches will be played in home series and 7 in away series.
Bangladesh will play their home series against New Zealand, Australia and West Indies. Meanwhile, the Bangal Tigers will play Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka in away series. The full detail is here
| Against | No of Test | Scheduled in | Home / Away |
| India | 2 | November 2019 | Away |
| Pakistan | 2 | Jan-February 2020 | Away |
| Australia | 2 | February 2020 | Home |
| Sri Lanka | 3 | July – August 2020 | Away |
| New Zealand | 2 | August-Sept 2020 | Home |
| West Indies | 3 | Jan-February 2021 | Home |
ICC Test Championship Schedule of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is currently standing at 8th spot in ICC Ranking thus it has qualified for ICC Test Championship. Sri Lanka is currently looking out of form but Test cricket has 5 days and we can not predict the result at first day of test.
Sri Lanka will play 13 tests during test championship out of which 7 will be home tests and 6 will be played during away test series. The full detail of Sri Lanka schedule of ICC Championship is below:-
| Against | No of Test | Scheduled in | Home / Away |
| New Zealand | 2 | July-August 2019 | Home |
| Pakistan | 2 | October 2019 | Away |
| England | 2 | March-April 2020 | Home |
| Bangladesh | 3 | July – August 2020 | Home |
| South Africa | 2 | January 2021 | Away |
| Windies | 2 | February March 2021 | Away |
ICC Test Championship Schedule of West Indies
West Indies also known as Windies will be part of Championship and start the campaign in July-August 2019. The first series will be played against India in their home series. West Indies will play India, South Africa and Sri Lanka in home series.
While New Zealand, Bangladesh and England will host the Ice landers. Windies will play 15 test matches containing 6 home and 9 tests in away series. The full detail is here
| Against | No of Test | Scheduled in | Home / Away |
| India | 2 | July-August 2019 | Home |
| England | 3 | June-July 2020 | Away |
| South Africa | 2 | July August 2020 | Home |
| New Zealand | 3 | Nov-December 2020 | Away |
| Bangladesh | 3 | Jan-February 2021 | Away |
| Sri Lanka | 2 | February 0March 2021 | Home |
ICC Test Championship Points Table
The championship is starting from July-August 2019. England will host final in June 2021. We are sharing full detail of points with all details of matches played till date.
| Position | Team | Matches | Points | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | T | D | L | |||
| 1 | Australia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Bangladesh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | England | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | India | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | New Zealand | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Pakistan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | South Africa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Sri Lanka | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | West Indies | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |