West Indies fast bowling legend Michael Holding has labelled the point system of the ongoing ICC World Test Championship as “ridiculous”, as some of the Tests will not have an impact as teams will realise that they will not have any chance of finishing top two in the points tally.
According to the current points system, a team can gain up to 120 points from a series if they win all the matches of the series. So if it is a two-match Test series, a single Test match is worth 60 points at the table.
The top two teams, after the entire cycle is done, qualify for the finals.
The Test Championship was introduced last year by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in an attempt to revive bilateral Test cricket.
“It doesn’t work,” Holding told Wisden Cricket Monthly when quizzed if the Championship was achieving was what it aimed to achieve. (via PTI)
“First of all the points system is ridiculous. You can’t play five Test matches and get the same amount of points if you play two Test matches,” he added.
“And secondly, at some point you’re going to have teams who know they cannot get to the final and so those Test matches aren’t going to be all that entertaining. People know it’s just another game,” he explained.
Meanwhile, current England fast bowler Chris Woakes, who was also part of the roundtable, opined that the points system might need to be tweaked in the future.
“The New Zealand series (England lost 1-0 away to the Black Caps last winter) wasn’t part of the World Test Championship but that defeat didn’t affect us any less as players,” Woakes said.
“I think the system might need a bit of tinkering with in the future. Anyone can turn someone over in a one-off final, depending on the toss or conditions. If there was more time in the calendar they could do a three-match final but unfortunately there just isn’t,” he said.
As of now, India are leading the World Test Championship points tally which might have to be adjusted amid the COVID-19 pandemic as a number of series have been postponed in view of the crisis.