ICC admit World Test Championship not "fit for purpose"

New chairman Greg Barclay says the format for the long-form competition has been exposed by the Covid-19 pandemic and needs a rethink

• WTC final to be determined on percentage of points earned
• England tour of Sri Lanka awaiting confirmation

The World Test Championship is at risk of being overhauled after one edition, the new ICC chairman has suggested.

Covid-19 has seen several series postponed without hope of many of them being rescheduled during the 2019-21 cycle.

Such has been disruption, the ICC agreed earlier this month that the top two - who are due to meet in the inaugural final at Lord's next June - will be determined by a new points system.

Currently, each of the nine competing nations play three series of varying length home and away. Points awarded vary on the result and the number of Tests played over a single series.

Greg Barclay, who succeeded Shashank Manohar as the permanent ICC chairman last week, admits the pandemic has exposed several flaws in the competition, which could lead to it being revamped - if indeed it returns.

"Covid has probably highlighted some of the shortcomings we have got with the World Test Championship," Barclay told Press Association.

"From an idealistic point of view it probably had a lot of merit but I do just query in a practical sense whether it's actually achieved what it was intended to do.

"Let's get through the next little bit, do what we can taking into account Covid and the ability to reallocate points or whatever, but my personal view is once we've done that we're probably back to the drawing board. 

"I'm just not quite sure it's entirely fit for purpose and perhaps has achieved what we might have hoped it would when it was first conceptualised four or five years ago."

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