2021–2023 World Test Championship
The 2021–2023 ICC World Test Championship was the second edition of the ICC World Test Championship of Test cricket. It started on 4 August 2021, and it finished with the final on 7–11 June 2023 at The Oval, London, played between Australia and India.
The five-match Pataudi Trophy between England and India, started 4 August 2021, started the second cycle of the World Test Championship. That series, along with the Ashes in December 2021, were the only two series comprising five Tests in the second WTC cycle. New Zealand were the defending champions. In September 2022, the International Cricket Council announced that the final of this edition of the World Test Championship would be played at The Oval, London in June 2023. That final saw Australia win by 209 runs, thus becoming the only team to win all ICC titles.
Format
The tournament was played over two years, with 69 matches over 27 series scheduled for the league stage from which the top two teams advanced to a final. Each team was scheduled to play six series, with three at home and three away. Each series consisted of two to five Test matches. Each participant played between 12 and 22 matches. Each match was scheduled for a duration of five days.Points system
The points system was changed from the previous edition. In this edition, 12 points would be available each match regardless of how many matches there were in a series. A win was worth all 12 points, a tie was worth 6 points each, a draw was worth 4 points each, and a loss was worth 0 points. Teams failing to meet the required over rate would have one point deducted for each over they were behind at the end of a match, except in cases where they bowled their opponents out in 60 overs in an innings, or 120 overs over the course of the match. As in the previous edition, teams were ranked in the league table based on percentage of total points won out of total points contested.| Match result | Points earned | Points contested | Percentage of points won |
| Win | 12 | 12 | 100 |
| Tie | 6 | 12 | 50 |
| Draw | 4 | 12 | 33.33 |
| Loss | 0 | 12 | 0 |
Participants
Nine full members of the ICC participated in the competition:The three full members of the ICC who did not participate were Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe.
Schedule
The schedule for the World Test Championship was announced by the International Cricket Council on 20 June 2018, as part of the 2018–2023 Future Tours Programme. Rather than being a full round-robin tournament in which everyone played everyone else equally, each team played only six of the other eight, as in the previous cycle.Prize money
The International Cricket Council declared a total prize money pool of US$3.8 million for the tournament. The prize money was allocated according to the performance of the team as follows:| Position | Prize money |
| Winner | $1,600,000 |
| Runner-up | $800,000 |
| Third | $450,000 |
| Fourth | $350,000 |
| Fifth | $200,000 |
| Sixth | $100,000 |
| Seventh | $100,000 |
| Eighth | $100,000 |
| Ninth | $100,000 |
| Total | $3,800,000 |
The winning team also received the ICC Test Championship Mace.