The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday (May 28) released the 'playing conditions' for the World Test Championship (WTC) final, slated to be held between India and New Zealand in Southampton from June 18-22.
According to the playing conditions, "a draw or a tie will see both teams crowned as joint winners..."
The governing body has also allocated June 23 as a reserve day to make up for any lost time during the regular days of the final.
"Both of these decisions were made in June 2018, prior to the commencement of the ICC World Test Championship," ICC said in a media release.
“The Reserve Day has been scheduled to ensure five full days of play, and it will only be used if lost playing time cannot be recovered through the normal provisions of making up lost time each day. There will be no additional day’s play if a positive result is not achieved after five full days of play and the match will be declared a draw in such a scenario,” ICC stated.
In the event of time being lost during the match, the ICC match referee will regularly update the teams and media about the way in which the Reserve Day may be used.
The final decision on whether the Reserve Day needs to be used will be announced at the scheduled start of the last hour on the fifth day.
Coming to the use of red cherry, ICC said that the historic game will be played with Grade 1 Dukes cricket balls.
Notably, Team India play at home with SG Test ball while New Zealand use Kookaburra in home conditions.
(With ICC inputs)
