James Anderson, ICC World Test Championship
James Anderson (Image Credit: Google)

The inaugural ICC World Test Championship is just a few days away to begin. It will kick-off with the first Ashes 2019 Test between England and Australia that will begin on 1st August. Ahead of this match, the English pacer James Anderson praised this new initiative.

On Monday (29th July), the ICC officially launched the ICC World Test Championship. The opening game of the Ashes 2019 will be the first match of the 2019-21 ICC World Test Championship.

The top nine-ranked Test teams will participate in this tournament, and everyone has to play six bilateral Test series in this tournament. Out of these Test series, three will be at home against three different teams, and the other three will be in away against the other three different teams.

James Anderson, ICC World Test Championship
Image Credit: Google

At the end of the league stage, the top two teams of the points table will meet in the final of this tournament. The final will be the one-off Test match, and the Lord’s (London) will organise this final in June 2021.

The bilateral series can be any of two to five matches’ series with a total of 120 points for every series. According to the total match numbers of the series, the distributions of points of each game have been divided.

Test cricket is the pinnacle of our sport – James Anderson

The most Test wicket-taker as a pace bowler, James Anderson has praised this new initiative. He feels that each Test match will be more important now due to the ICC World Test Championship.

James Anderson, ICC World Test Championship
James Anderson (Image Credit: Getty Images)

Anderson said, “Test cricket is the pinnacle of our sport. It is the very essence of cricket and the majority of players want to strive to play the purist form of the game. The ICC World Test Championship is another brilliant initiative for the sport, adding context and relevance to every Test series. Every Test matters, but even more so now.”

As per the latest news, Anderson is likely to feature in the first Test of the Ashes 2019 at Edgbaston.

The World Test Championship will bring relevance and context to bilateral Test cricket

During the Test Championship launch, the ICC General Manager Geoff Allardice gave the high hope on this competition. He feels that it will achieve the similar success of the every Cricket World Cup or T20 World Cup.

James Anderson Feels The ICC World Test Championship Is A Brilliant Initiative 1
Geoff Allardice (Image Credit: Google)

Allardice claims, “The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup this summer showed just how important it is for every game to count and for the world’s best teams to go head-to-head.

“The World Test Championship will bring relevance and context to bilateral Test cricket over the next two years, creating a pinnacle event for the five-day format, just as the World Cups for men and women do in the ODI and T20I formats.”

Apart from Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe, all other Full members will participate in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship.