Veteran Australia spinner Nathan Lyon has called for the transformation of the one-off ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final into a three-match affair.
In 2019, the International Cricket Council introduced the concept of WTC to popularize Test cricket. It is currently in its third edition.
New Zealand and Australia won the first two editions of the WTC by defeating India in the final.
According to Lyon, a multi-match final would better represent the true spirit of Test cricket. He argued that a single-match event can be heavily influenced by just one session, which may not provide a fair reflection of the teams' abilities.
"It's not tournament play. You can't just be scraping into the semi-finals and losing two games or what not. You've got to be consistent over the two years of the cycle," Lyon said, as quoted by ICC.
"One thing I would like to see, I'd like to see the World Test Championship Final potentially in a three-match series. That may become a little bit better because you potentially can lose using a Test match in one session where [in a three-match series] it may allow teams to bounce back all your show their dominance and win 3-0. We're pretty time-poor anyway and that's going to be a challenge but that's one thing I would change,” he added.
Lyon wants to the WTC final to be played in different parts of the world. So far, England have hosted the two finals while the title clash of the third edition is due to be held at Lord’s in June 2025.
"You potentially could go one in England, one in India, one in Australia, so you have all different conditions, but obviously, the timing of that changes everything. I don't think we're going to get on the MCG in the middle of August, just putting it out there."
Nathan Lyon, a veteran of 129 Test matches, also emphasized that the WTC format stops "dead rubbers" in a bilateral series, which is vital for the longest format of the game.
“Oh, yeah. I'll just say it's [World Test Championship] the pinnacle for Test cricket. People say it's sometimes a dead rubber when you turn 2-0 up in a three-match series or whatever it may be. But I feel like there's no more dead rubbers. I've never considered them dead rubbers, but there are always points on offer now. You look at us last year losing against West Indies at the Gabba hurt us a fair bit," he opined.
“But then I would go to New Zealand and win away from home, which is one of the biggest challenges in Test cricket.”
Lyon sees the World Test Championship as the pinnacle of Test cricket, holding it in the same regard as the World Cup.
“It's massive, but I feel like the World Test Championship for me is like the World Cup and that's a genuine big World Cup. When you are competing against the best for long periods of time over a two-year period, you have to be good for the whole lot,” he remarked.
(With ICC Inputs)
