The race to the ICC World Test Championship 2025 Final at Lord’s is hotting up with all contenders in action this week. While defending champions Australia will be in action against India in the ‘Pink Ball’ Test starting at Adelaide on Friday, we’ll have South Africa vs Sri Lanka 2nd Test and New Zealand vs England 2nd Test starting on Thursday.
At least 5 teams out of the six can still qualify for the third WTC final. However, the sprint to the final has taken a fresh twist with New Zealand and England sanctioned for maintaining a slow over-rate during the opening Test of their series in Christchurch last week.
Both teams were fined 15 percent of their match fees and penalised three crucial WTC competition points, adding more intrigue to the thrilling final stages of the ongoing cycle. While England are already out of contention of reaching next year’s final despite the impressive eight-wicket triumph at Hagley Oval, the loss in competition points is a major blow to New Zealand who drop from equal fourth to outright fifth on the standings as a result.
INDIA’S QUALIFICATION SCENARIO FOR WTC FINAL. pic.twitter.com/Us7ZHyICht
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) December 2, 2024
New Zealand now have a points percentage of 47.92 percent and can only move as high as 55.36 percent with victories from their remaining two fixtures against England.
It means the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) champions face a tough ask to qualify for next year’s one-off Test in June 2025, with two wins against England and several other results also needing to go their way if they are to reach the Lord’s decider.
New Zealand and England were both found to have three overs short of the target after time allowances were taken into consideration, with sides penalised one point for each over they were found to be short. Both captains – Tom Latham of New Zealand and Ben Stokes of England – pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction, so there was no need for a formal hearing.
On-field umpires Ahsan Raza and Rod Tucker, third umpire Adrian Holdstock and fourth official Kim Cotton levelled the charges, with David Boon of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees imposing the sanctions.
Rohit Sharma’s Team India are currently at No. 1 position after their 295-run win over Australia in the opening Test at Perth. They have PCT of 61.11 and will qualify for next year’s final if they can win with a 5-0, 4-1, 4-0 or 3-0 margin.
If India beat Australia with a 3-1 margin, they can qualify for the final if Sri Lanka can manage a draw against Sri Lanka in the second Test. However, if the five-match Test series ends with a 3-2 margin, it will means Sri Lanka will need to hold Australia to a 1-1 draw in a two-match series at home beginning on January 29.
