The World Test Championship cricket final is currently being held at Lord's. Defending champions Australia and South Africa are fighting for the title. However, everyone's attention is focused on criticizing the format of the tournament rather than the game itself.

Wisden is considered the bible of cricket. The editor of this, Lawrence Booth, has not only criticized the competition, but has accused that the nature of the competition is wrong.

According to him, there is only a serious flaw in the way the competition has been organized. England's former captain Michael Arthur is also not satisfied with the format of the competition. The word he used to describe it was, false competition. The biggest problem in world cricket right now is the political tension and bad relationship between India and Pakistan. This has a serious impact on Test cricket as well.

The two biggest countries in world cricket, India and Pakistan, have not played Test cricket against each other since 2007. Among the 9 test teams, there is no rule that everyone has to play against everyone to enter the finals of the tournament. Not only that, there is no rule that all teams should play the same game. Otherwise, the biggest rule of the league stage is not only that everyone plays everyone, but also that everyone has to play the same number of games.

What concessions are given to participating countries, who will play how many Tests in the two-year long cycle of the tournament, is determined by them. The editor of Wisden believes that this two-year cycle is not correct. It should be a four year cycle. By now, it would be fine to play the final between the top two teams in the points table. He also believes that each team should play the other team an equal number of home and away games in this four-year cycle.

He argues that there should be at least three such series. Currently, the decision of the two teams to reach the finals is based on percentage, in which percentage of points are obtained from the victory. South Africa, who have reached the final in the current cycle, have played only 12 Tests. That too only two test series.

Meanwhile, England has played 22 Tests. What is even more interesting is that South Africa have not played against Australia or England in the meantime. The biggest problem is with the South African team that is going to play the Test in New Zealand in 2024. At that time, South Africa sent their second-choice player to New Zealand. The team also lost badly in that series.

At that time, South Africa was running its own separate Twenty20 cricket tournament. All the good players in the team were busy with it. South Africa was more focused on the financial lure of Twenty20 cricket than Test cricket. Notably, South Africa have no Test series at home for 2025/26. South Africa won 6 Tests in a row to reach the final this time.

All opponents South Africa have faced are considered weak, Arthaton said. Arthur does not want to give great importance to this either. He says, South Africa should not be proud of this series of victories. South African coach Sukri Konard disagrees. According to him, South Africa defeated that team. Which defeated big teams like India, Australia and England.

Connard says, 'West Indies have defeated Australia at their home. In this case, West Indies is not considered a weak team. New Zealand also defeated India on their own soil. I think New Zealand is not a weak team either. Sri Lanka won the series against England and New Zealand. Now even Sri Lanka cannot be considered weak.' 

South Africa was criticized after reaching the final for not doing well in white-ball cricket. Conard said in response, 'I will never apologize for the way we reached the final. In my opinion, reaching the final is the biggest achievement for South African cricket. It should be credited to the South African team.' 

Some people who are very closely involved in world cricket told AFP on the condition of anonymity, "This is not the right solution in the current situation." There is no way to please everyone in this situation. Similarly, in world cricket, the plan of playing a series of five Tests against each other of the three biggest teams is very difficult. These are the test series, which are highly profitable for them. This fact cannot be denied.

These three big teams are India, England and Australia. England captain Ben Stoke is also complaining about his team not reaching the final. He finds the World Test Championship equally confusing.