Dubai, April 10 A working group within the ICC will present a proposal to its Board of Directors, suggesting an expansion of the number of countries participating in the World Test Championship from 9 to 12, with the inclusion of Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, and Ireland in the next cycle starting in 2027.
It is believed that the working group, led by former New Zealand Test player Roger Twose, has also proposed one-off Test series as part of the next cycle.
"The working group will also recommend allowing one-off Tests to count towards the points accrued over the league's two-year cycle," ESPN Cricinfo reported.
It is understandable that if one-off Tests are incorporated into the next cycle with a possible expansion to 12 teams, it would also mean that the game's commercial leaders, India, could help out Ireland or Zimbabwe by playing one-off Test matches.
Currently, two-Test bilateral series are part of the WTC point cycle. For example, India will host Afghanistan for a one-off Test in June at Mullanpur in Punjab, but the result of that match will not have any bearing on the WTC points table.
However, it remains to be seen whether the ICC Board, led by Jay Shah, decides on expansion, considering the tight schedules with three formats, a packed bilateral calendar, and the exponential growth of franchise leagues across the globe. It must be noted that the ICC Board had rejected Twose's proposal for a two-tier Test structure.