ICC World Test Championship

Pakistan were on Monday fined 50 per cent of the match fess of their third and final Test against England at Birmingham, along with a deduction of 11 World Test Championship points for maintaining slow over-rate. The ICC said on their website that Pakistan, who were crushed 0-3 in the Test series by hosts England, were found to be 11 overs short of the target "after time allowances were taken into consideration". Pakistan had lost the series opener at Leeds by an innings and 103 runs, the second Test at Lord's by 194 runs and the third Test at Edgbaston by 8 wickets. "Pakistan have been hit with a pair of sanctions for maintaining a slow over-rate during the third and final ICC World Test Championship contest against England in Birmingham," the ICC said. The sanctions were imposed by ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle, on-field umpires Paul Reiffel and Chris Gaffaney, third umpire Allahudien Palekar and fourth umpire Russell Warren. "It means Pakistan lose ground at the bottom of

Long may it continue, England seam bowler Ollie Robinson said. And there's the rub. Robinson was talking about how successful his new-ball partnership with Jofra Archer was working out. In harness together for the first time in test cricket, they have taken 24 of Pakistan's 38 possible wickets in the ongoing series. They are a big reason England clinched the series 2-0 at Lord's on Sunday with a day and a game to spare. The change bowlers, Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson, have come off helping Manchester win the Hundred competition and claimed the other 14 Pakistan wickets. It's a pace attack that is exciting England supporters, who have fingers crossed the four quicks can stick together for the home Ashes series against Australia in less than 10 months. But that's a long time for any player and the foursome has yet to be truly tested. Pakistan has underwhelmed and was struggling before it undertook its first tour of England in six years. The loss at Lord's was its 10th in its last

Pakistan continues to trail at the bottom of the WTC 2025-27 points table with just two wins from eight matches in the ongoing cycle

Pant hit 66 and Padikkal added 44 after his first-innings 167, helping India set Sri Lanka 372 - beyond Galle's highest successful fourth-innings chase.

ICC revenue from women's ICC events has risen significantly in the last few years, but it has still not been enough to achieve a surplus

India have lost five of their last nine Tests on spin-friendly tracks and now face a Sri Lankan side whose home success still rests heavily on slow bowling

The current WTC regulations do not allow one-off Test matches to be part of the WTC. Every WTC contest must be played as a series of at least two Tests

The Tests are expected to take place after the conclusion of the Lanka Premier League, which ends on August 9

A working group within the ICC will put forth a proposal to its Board of Directors suggesting expansion of the number of countries playing in the World Test Championship from 9 to 12, with the inclusion of Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Ireland during the next cycle starting 2027. It is believed that the working group headed by the former New Zealand Test batter Roger Twose have also proposed one-off Test series as a 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 squeezed into the next cycle with possible expansion to 12 teams, it will also mean that the game's commercial leaders India could help out an Ireland or Zimbabwe by playing one-off Test matches. As of now, two-Test bilateral series is part of the WTC point cycle. For example, India will host Afghanistan for a one-off Test in June at Mullanpur in Pun

Australia's victory lifted their points percentage (PCT) from 85.71 to 87.50, marking their seventh win of the current World Test Championship cycle.

England's innings began with promise, as openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley got off to a rapid start. The day however, got marred by bad weather and light.

The live streaming of the Australia vs England 5th Test in the Ashes 2025-26 will be available on the JioHotstar app and website in India

In an interesting situation, the current top three in the WTC 2025-27 points table are the winners of all three editions of the World Test Championship

India on Friday slipped a rung to sixth position on the World Test Championship standings after New Zealand's comprehensive nine-wicket victory against the West Indies in Wellington propelled them to the third place. Runners-up in the first two WTC cycles, India were placed fifth after they were blanked 2-0 by South Africa at home last month with New Zealand occupying the sixth position. However, the table saw a major turnaround after the Kiwis' big win in the second Test at Basin Reverse on Friday. Former champions Australia continue to hold the top position with 100 percentage points (win-loss percentage) with South Africa in second place with 75 percentage points. Sri Lanka (66.67) and Pakistan (50) occupy the fourth and fifth position respectively. New Zealand have so far accumulated 66.67 percentage points, while India have a win-loss percentage of 48.15. India can drop further down to seventh if England stage a comeback against Australia in the Ashes. The Aussies lead the se

Steve Smith took a brilliant reflex catch to swing momentum just before Ben Stokes' defiant half-century ended in a rush of England wickets Sunday, then he hit the winning runs in the second cricket test to give Australia a 2-0 Ashes lead. Day 4 was a tale of two captains. Set a target of 65 for victory after England was bowled out for 241 in the second innings, Australia raced to an eight-wicket win in 10 overs either side of a 20-minute interval as serious storms brewed to the southwest. Jofra Archer was bowling around 150 kph (93 mph) under the lights and it only fired up Smith. There were some theatrics involving the Australia captain and England's strike pace bowler, with Smith telling Archer to bowl faster after ducking a bouncer. He then ramped him for a boundary and hit the next ball for a six to bring up 1,000 test runs at the Gabba. With Australia at 63-2 and needing just two runs to win, Smith hit a six to finish it and finished unbeaten on 23 from nine deliveries. Jake

Australia have a 1-0 lead going into the 2nd Ashes Test in Gabba and would be looking to take a healthy 2-0 lead in the 5-match Test series.

Australia continue to dominate the leaderboard, maintaining the No. 1 spot after winning all four of their matches in the 2025-27 cycle.

Any hopes of chasing the total have long faded; the pitch has worn considerably, offering sharp turn and uneven bounce, making even basic shot-making a risky endeavour.

It remains unclear whether coach Conrad's choice of words was deliberate or simply an unfortunate slip during the press conference.

India lost their first 2 wickets before stumps and now face a daunting task of batting for 3 full sessions in order to salvage a draw on the final day.