ICC rules out World Test Championship expansion till 2031

The World Test Championship will continue as a nine-team competition for at least the next two cycles, spanning 2027-29 and 2029-31, with the International Cricket Council set to block any expansion through 2031. The decision means the championship's structure remains unchanged from its current form, and three full ICC members, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan, will remain outside the competition for the foreseeable future. Fierce debate over whether to broaden the field preceded the board's deliberations, yet the nine-team model has held firm.

The ICC board held an all-day meeting in Bali on November 15 2026, with the WTC's format listed among the principal items for discussion. Recommendations presented to the board called for retaining the nine-team structure across both upcoming cycles, and the board was widely expected to endorse that position. Commercial value concerns were cited as the primary driver behind the ICC's preference to leave the format untouched.

Which teams are in and who stays excluded?

The nine nations confirmed to participate in the World Test Championship are Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies. All nine have featured in the competition since its launch, and no new member is expected to be admitted under the structure approved for either the 2027-29 or the 2029-31 cycle.

Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan each hold full ICC membership and carry the right to play Test cricket, yet none of the three will be part of the WTC. There is no promotion or relegation pathway that would allow any of them to enter the nine-team group, so their exclusion is structural rather than a reflection of on-field performance. Cricket South Africa chief executive Pholetsi Moseki made an emphatic appeal for expansion at the ICC Executives' Committee meeting on November 14 2026, the day before the full board convened in Bali, but that appeal appears unlikely to change the outcome. Zimbabwe's interest in joining the championship has been noted, though no concrete route into either of the next two cycles has been confirmed.

Why is the ICC holding the WTC at nine teams?

Commercial considerations sit at the heart of the ICC's reluctance to broaden the field. The WTC operates through bilateral agreements arranged between member boards, with league fixtures distributed across each two-year cycle. Bringing additional nations into that structure would complicate scheduling and, according to the reasoning placed before the board, risk reducing the commercial returns the current format generates.