Plans to expand the World Test Championship (WTC) to all 12 Full Members are losing momentum, with financial concerns strengthening the case for a more targeted Test cricket calendar. According to a report by Hindustan Times, a proposal developed by an ICC working group has failed to attract widespread internal support as administrators assess the economic realities facing the format.
The debate comes during the fourth WTC cycle and ahead of important discussions over the next Future Tours Programme (FTP). Cricket officials are due to meet next month to work through plans for the next four-year cycle, with proposals then expected to go before the ICC Board in November.
Economics complicate WTC expansion
The push for a 12-team championship was put forward by an ICC working group led by New Zealand Cricket‘s Roger Twose, but the cost of staging Test cricket has emerged as a major obstacle to bringing every Full Member into the competition.
Industry estimates put the cost of hosting a Test at around US$1 million. For boards operating in smaller commercial markets, generating enough broadcast and other revenue to recover that expenditure can be difficult unless the opposition is a major draw such as India, or in some markets England.
Ireland and Afghanistan are understood to consider even one-off Tests commercially difficult to stage. Afghanistan faces an additional challenge because playing at adopted home venues adds to its costs.
Those constraints illustrate the central problem facing administrators: expanding the championship would create additional Test obligations for boards that may not have the commercial base to sustain them.
Zimbabwe makes its case for inclusion
Zimbabwe has taken a different approach and is pushing for a place in the WTC. The country played 11 Tests last year, demonstrating a greater appetite for the format despite the financial pressures associated with staging and participating in Test cricket.
Zimbabwe also secured an arrangement under which the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) paid a touring fee for its away Test in England. That model provided financial support for a fixture that would otherwise place much of the economic burden on the touring board.
The contrasting positions highlight why a single approach across all 12 Full Members is proving difficult. While Zimbabwe wants greater involvement, Ireland and Afghanistan face different economic circumstances despite the increased funding benefits associated with Full Member status.
Competitive balance adds another challenge
Commercial viability is not the only consideration. Administrators must also weigh whether expanding the WTC would produce enough competitive Test matches to sustain audience interest.
The India-Afghanistan one-off Test in New Chandigarh provided one example of that challenge. The match attracted a sparse crowd, while Afghanistan were dismissed twice in a combined 94.3 overs as the contest ended inside three days.
At the other end of the Test market, India, England and Australia remain able to stage five-Test series against each other on a home-and-away basis. South Africa, meanwhile, is working to gradually increase the amount of Test cricket on its calendar.
Commercial demand can still vary even for established Test nations. Australia’s upcoming tour of South Africa is expected to attract interest around the history of the Sandpaper Gate controversy, while the year-end England tour of South Africa has not generated the broadcast interest anticipated, with Sky not pursuing the series.
WTC faces a wider engagement question
The debate over expansion comes alongside a broader effort to strengthen the championship itself. The WTC has given bilateral Test series a larger competitive framework, but sustained engagement across its two-year cycle remains a challenge.
Attention around the championship tends to intensify as the final approaches rather than remaining consistent throughout the competition. Changes to the points system are among the possibilities as the ICC considers how to give the WTC greater meaning across the full cycle.
The current nine-team structure has also attracted criticism because participating countries do not play an equal number of matches. South Africa’s championship-winning campaign, for example, involved only 12 Tests, raising questions about competitive balance within the existing model.
Requiring boards to play substantially more Tests, however, could create another problem. Greater international commitments could reduce boards’ control over players at a time when T20 franchise competitions offer players alternative opportunities around the world.
Test cricket moves toward a more sustainable model
The immediate calendar provides a substantial block of Test cricket, beginning with the Australia-Bangladesh and India-Sri Lanka series this week. Twenty-one WTC matches are scheduled across the next five months as administrators simultaneously shape the next FTP cycle.
The emerging direction is therefore less about expanding Test cricket uniformly and more about “rightsizing” the format around what individual markets can realistically sustain. The existing system, under which boards negotiate bilateral series with commercial viability in mind, is expected to continue while the details of the next WTC are developed.
With the 12-team proposal struggling for support, the decisions ahead are increasingly centred on balancing competitive credibility with economic sustainability — and ensuring that Test cricket remains viable in a global calendar increasingly shaped by franchise T20 competitions.
