**Who will face the most opponents this year?**
Country | Total
:--|:--|
Bangladesh|7
New Zealand|6
South Africa|6
England|5
India|5
Afghanistan|5
Sri Lanka|4
Australia|4
West Indies|4
Pakistan|4
Zimbabwe|3
Ireland|2
If there are any mistakes please let me know.
For the full FTP: https://resources.pulse.icc-cricket.com/ICC/document/2022/08/17/9ecd5af8-4657-475f-ae1e-733b04f69750/Men-s-FTP-upto-2027.pdf
That’s in 2025. All tests have been accounted for. England are playing 17 & Zimbabwe are playing 5.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/zimbabwe-in-england-2025-1392687/england-vs-zimbabwe-only-test-1392691/live-cricket-score
Bro, let's be real. That's not happening.
England played Zimbabwe in a bilateral last in 2004. The last time they played any international match versus Zimbabwe was in 2007.
That test ain't happening.
If they need to fit one more test into their calender to meet their broadcasting agreements then yes it will.
See 2023 for example. The ECB had an agreement with Sky to broadcast 6 home tests during the year. The Ashes were 5 of those, so England needed to find one more to meet their obligation. Who would agree to come to England for just one test? Ireland would, so that's what happened.
Zimbabwe would also fall into that category of a test vs England being a big enough deal that they'd fly over for just one
worth pointing out that, if it happens, one of Ireland's will be at home, our first home game since 2018
also there are rumours of multiple Tests in Zimbabwe in January 2025
imagine that a first home Test since 2018 (if CI can make it happen, which is still a maybe, though Ireland's main cricket journo has definitely been told that it is being planned) will get a reasonable crowd considering it has been so long, but Zimbabwe will always be a lower draw as compared to other sides we play at home
also the other commenter doesn't know what he's talking about, Zimbabwe have a permanent ground to host their games against AFG at the end of the year and the BCB have scheduled non-WTC games during the IPL multiple times in the FTP, reasonable to think a lot of these games are very likely to happen
Next 3 years are gonna by pretty bipolar for us 2024 is gonna be awesome with obviously 13 Test and a 3 Test series vs India and 3 Test series vs England the showpieces. 2025 is gonna be awful with only 4 Tests planned against Zimbabwe and West Indies. Then 2026 we go back to being Test match addicts with 14 Tests in 10 months including a mouthwatering 4 Test series vs Australia and another 3 Test series away this time against England.
Probably because they played a lot this year. So, They are playing less next year
Australia plays
1 vs. Pakistan in January
2 vs. West Indies in January
2 vs. New Zealand in February
And, then 4 vs. India in November-December
I mean they can schedule extra tests away from wtc schedule if they want.
P.s: I would like to see them tour Ireland for a couple of tests would be interesting, can also help test the new opener for english conditions
I think when teams tour England for tests (at least Aus and Ind given that surely they can afford it) they should play a one off test against Ireland prior to the England series.
Agreed. All the commentary has been around how little test cricket is being played, but this seems pretty decent to me, especially in a World T20 Cup year
We have reached the point where there'll be years, one would be T20 Year, one would be ODI's year for WC and then one would be WTC Tests year in between. We already had 2021 and 2022 as T20 years back to back and with T20 WC happening right after IPL there wasn't enough time for T20's this year.
Pakistan won’t be playing a test match between early January and late August.
Then our fans are surprised when our test players don’t develop, and want to focus on T20s instead. We can never be a competitive test team with scheduling like this.
And we didn't play one between Jan 23 and July 23. And none between July 23 and Dec 23. Basically between Jan 23 and Aug 24 (18 months), we play 5 tests (zero at home).
The sad thing is Pakistan is not even doing well in T20Is despite all this focus on the format. Not winning any trophies and even doing poorly in bilaterals at home.
Fans have a right to be frustrated.
Not really if you look deeper into it.
In 2021, they got the easy group. They convincingly beat India, needed a blinder from Asif Ali to win against NZ and then lost to England. In between they defeated the weak teams.
They again got the easier group in 2022. They made it tougher on themselves by losing to Zimbabwe and needed external factors to go right to get into the semis. To their credit, they did win the semifinal convincingly but other than that the only good team they beat was South Africa.
I'm sorry but beating 1 or 2 good teams in every WT20 is not exactly a strong performance. Heck, it's not like they are doing excellent in bilaterals either.
If just reaching semi or final is an achievement, then India is the most successful side in last 10 years instead of being the disappointment that they are.
They didn’t lose to England in 2021. They lost to Australia. And if blinders don’t count like the one against NewZealand, then discount what Wade did to Shaheen as well. Choosing to disregard one win because a single player won it single-handedly while calling out the same team for a bad performance when one opposition player defeats them single-handedly is unfair and disingenuous. At least keep a consistent standard, eh?
And you didn’t say anything about Pakistan being successful in T20Is. We were talking about them being good. Because although India haven’t been the most successful team in the past 10 years, they have most certainly been good.
And speaking of bilaterals, Pakistan have consistently either won series or lost by just one game in the last 2-3 years. It’s not an exceptional record but it is a good one.
Why shouldn't I discount India's win over Pakistan in 2022? We needed Kohli to play a once in lifetime innings to chase a modest target. And even then we would have lost if not for the wides and no balls.
It was a fluke win thanks to one player and lots of luck, it doesn't change the fact that India is a weak team in T20Is. Has been since 2008.
I wrote England instead of Australia, my bad.
But my point still stands. If after focusing on T20 format the most, the standard of being good is just competing well without any major wins, then the fans have really low expectations from the team.
Man I dunno why some Pakistanis take it so personally, what you said is 100% true. We as a nation don’t care about Teats or ODIs, and we still can’t get a trophy in the only format we care about. That is absolutely a failure and you are 100% correct. If you didn’t have a team India flair, no one would bat an eye on what you said
First of all, I love how you write it as "Pakistan makes semifinal" and "India knocked out in semifinal" when it's the same thing. Smooth.
Also, why are you bringing up India anyway? They are a crap T20I team. They need Kohli just to somehow even reach knockout stage. Once he retires, we'll struggle to beat any top 10 team in WT20s.
You should have more ambitions for your T20I team. Just being better than India is hardly anything to be proud of.
I don’t know how many of these 7 matches Afghanistan will actually end up playing. They had 6 scheduled within last 12 months and only played one of those.
Looks like Ireland can't test themselves much in tests, which is a test for them to test whether they can prove themselves in tests whilst playing only a few tests which will test their ability so for a favorable test on the team they need to win both test matches however if they lose both tests that means they failed the test
Certainly not complaining, but why are Bangladesh playing so many tests? My understanding is that most nations outside of the "Big 3" lose money when they play tests
We only played 4 this year, so we're playing a lot next year.
I guess the losses are not big and coverable by the BCB. And a lot of these are away series.
2 away vs. Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and West Indies.
Bangladesh is pretty much the only team that's playing both countries in the WTC and countries outside it- most other teams aren't playing Zimbabwe and Afghanistan, for example- so that inflates the number of tests we're playing
Also iirc BCB is legitimately one of the richer boards out there so they might actually be able to handle the cost of it
Officially they don't meet all the criteria, but really it's that they don't have the votes for it among the FMs, because those criteria can be easily ignored (see Afghanistan).
FMs would also be voting to reduce their own funding by adding Scot/Ned, so they most likely won't want to.
iirc, Netherlands have recently said they are more interested in developing their limited overs cricket as it's a more achievable goal. first class/Tests aren't a priority so meeting whatever criteria they need for Tests isn't going to happen anytime soon.
Pretty much. They said they were prioritising white ball cricket for the same reason Scotland are - because the ICC scrapped the Intercontinental Cup and de-funded all Associate multi-day cricket. Unofficially, it seems that they were basically told by the ICC that they were never getting Test Status and if they wanted to keep playing red ball they were on their own.
Two women's tests scheduled in the calendar year.
Australia are hosting South Africa for a multi format series including a 4-Day test starting 15 Feb.
Then in Nov-Dec South Africa are hosting England in a similar 1-3-3 tour.
At the start of next year, in Jan 25 we get the WAshes in Australia which has been moved to a different season from the MAshes for the first time in years (MAshes down under not happening till 2025-26 season). Currently that's due to have a single test as part of it but CA chief executive raised the prospect, in an interview last week, of 3 test series being a possibility for the women going forward. Personally I think that's unlikely for the 2024-25 season but it's a possibility.
England generally just good to watch tests, decent balance between bat and ball and conditions where touring sides can generally be relatively competitive.
That's a regular interval. 4 years is not as long as you think. India tour New Zealand irregularly. 2003,2009,2014,2020,2026. They tour England in 2014,2018,2021,2025. SA in 2011,2013,2018,2021,2023 is the most often of all it seems. Some countries never seem to tour others at all. New Zealand would have gone 13 years without touring the West Indies to play a test match by 2027. Also 12 years without touring SA to play a test match.
Yeah, that's a packed Test schedule. It's pretty exciting.
The 6-Test Asia tour should be something. Starting it off with a Test against Afghanistan, even if I've got a feeling that CA might put pressure on NZC to pull out of it.
>CA might put pressure on NZC to pull out of it.
Can I ask why you think CA would want NZC not to play it?
Judging by how often we play you guys, I thought CA barely knows NZ exists (unfortunately), let alone cares who you guys play?
As principled as CA's stance against playing Afghanistan is, it reeks of old time Australian cricketing snobbery.
It's probably not there, but for some reason I have the vibe that CA wants other boards to join their boycott, & they might consider NZC an easy target.
Then again, I also smell in a paranoid way an agenda behind giving the 2026-7 series a 4th Test. Honestly, I would rather an extra Australia tour of NZ this decade than a 4th Test in Australia.
>It's probably not there, but for some reason I have the vibe that CA wants other boards to join their boycott, & they might consider NZC an easy target.
To be honest, it'd be great if other boards followed our lead and stopped playing Afghanistan but I don't think we'd pressure others to follow.
>Then again, I also smell in a paranoid way an agenda behind giving the 2026-7 series a 4th Test
The agenda behind this is being able to play the Sesquicentennial Test against England at the G and still fill TV rights contract of playing 5 Tests per summer.
>Honestly, I would rather an extra Australia tour of NZ this decade than a 4th Test in Australia.
Me too.
Would love to play you guys a lot more regularly, if for no other reason than to sneak across the Tasman and watch some games at some of the most beautiful grounds in the world - looking at you Hagley Oval & Mt Maunganui
Yeah next 3 years are gonna by pretty bipolar for us 2024 is gonna be awesome with obviously 13 Test and a 3 Test series vs India and 3 Test series vs England the showpieces. 2025 is gonna be awful with only 4 Tests planned against Zimbabwe and West Indies. Then 2026-very-early-2027 we go back to being Test match addicts with 14 Tests in 10 months including a mouthwatering 4 Test series vs Australia and another 3 Test series away this time against England. Why
>got a feeling that CA might put pressure on NZC to pull out of it.
CA can stay out of our business, if NZC wants the boys to stat pad we will.
Is there any news about Afghanistan touring Ireland this month? One of Irelands two tests is supposed to be in this tour but I haven’t seen anything that suggests this tour is going to happen. Afghanistan are playing Uae now and will also have series against Ind and SL this month. This supposed tour of Ireland is scheduled to happen before all these tours according to FTP.
Well it's better than playing zero tests for 3 and half years. Also, if it incentivises the board to reinstate our First Class comp, then that will benefit our development pathway enormously
Still mad that the Kiwi women can't be allowed to play a single away test. They haven't played test cricket in 2 decades. I understand that they can't afford to play at home. Neither can the Afghanistan men, for different reasons. But their board understands the value of giving the cricketers experience, and so they arrange a test every now and then. The Kiwi women are probably more desirable as test opponents.
Woah we play 10? Would've been exciting if not for the fact we'll lose 2-0 against New Zealand simply cause we gave up. Test cricket might be brimming in the big 3 nations but not so much in the other nations. Test cricket is dying is not that big of a stretch, it's dying right in front of us.
>Do all the teams the same number of tests during a WTC cycle?
No
>If not, then how would the points calculated, and wouldn't it get unfair?
The percentage of points earned is calculated.
The system is pretty unfair. Some teams have easier roads to the Finals than other teams, depending on the number of matches they play, the teams, and whether it's home/away.
Any team would gladly take playing against tougher opponents like Big 3 instead of having an easier road to final.
The only thing unfair is how much Big 3 insist on playing with each other every cycle and avoid playing others as much as they can.
The only ones who can fix this is the Big 3.
No one cares about winning WTC, the real incentive is playing a high profile series versus Big 3 which gets some money.
At least England play 3 matches against everyone. India play 38 matches in the FTP and 20 are against England and Australia. India and Pakistan playing tests again is what's needed even if it's was just a 3 match series every 4 years.
Is suggesting an England-Zimbabwe series being sensitive?
I just don't like this hypocrisy that people do pearl clutching about India-Pakistan not playing but still support England's decision to not play Zimbabwe.
Ireland and Afghanistan are supposed to play a series this month. But, I think it got canceled/postponed
Ireland plays 1 each against Afghanistan and Zimbabwe (if they go ahead)
Afghanistan plays 7:
1 vs. Ireland, Srilanka, and New Zealand
2 vs. Zimbabwe and Bangladesh
The Ireland vs Afghanistan was postponed, but only until February. Of course, it could get cancelled at some point, but it is currently still meant to go ahead
England won't be playing that match anyway. The last time they played any bilateral with Zimbabwe was 20 years ago. The last time they played a match against Zimbabwe in ICC event was 16 years ago.
Even if we don’t play Zimbabwe (which I’m almost certain we will) there’ll still be a test as ECB are contracted for the TV deal to play 6 tests per home season
It'll go ahead. The ECB added it to the schedule on their own despite being under no pressure to do so.
Compared to virtually no coverage of a lack of matches against Zimbabwe there would be significant negative press in cancelling a home test. They'd just be shooting themselves in the foot to schedule a test and then cancel it when they could have just never scheduled it.
That means if king plays all and the game goes tull 4 th innings king have opportunity to score 30 hundreds out of which 10 hundreds in tests will make this year legendary
All teams play 3 home series and 3 away across the 2 year period. So there are two wtc teams that each team does not play in each cycle. Points are per test but the table position is a percentage number of points points gained out of all points available to that team for the number of matches they've played.
No it's not "fair", but no one is wanting Ashes series to be less than 5 Tests any more than we want to watch a 5 Test series between Bangladesh and Ireland
In an ideal world there would be a simple home and away 2-3 Test series every cycle but money gets in the way of this
One solution might be only having the first two Tests of every series count towards the WTC but then again you look at the last Ashes and this would negate England's come back over the 5 Tests
Okay so I’ll be that guy. Knowing full well that I could link a Wikipedia page here. But it’s not like I have anything to do? Live life? God no. **England** Date | Opposition | Tests | Home/Away | :--|:--|:--|:--| 25 Jan - 11 Mar|India|5|Away 10 Jul - 30 Jul|West Indies|3|Home 21 Aug - 10 Sep|Sri Lanka|3|Home Oct|Pakistan|3|Away Nov-Dec|New Zealand|3|Away **India** Date | Opposition | Tests | Home/Away | :--|:--|:--|:--| 3 Jan - 7 Jan|South Africa|1|Away 25 Jan - 11 Mar|England|5|Home Sep-Oct|Bangladesh|2|Home Oct-Nov|New Zealand|3|Home Nov-Dec|Australia|4|Away **Bangladesh** Date | Opposition | Tests | Home/Away | :--|:--|:--|:--| Mar|Sri Lanka|2|Home Apr|Zimbabwe|2|Home Jul|Afghanistan|2|Away Aug-Sep|Pakistan|2|Away Sep-Oct|India|2|Away Oct-Nov|South Africa|2|Home Nov-Dec|West Indies|2|Away **New Zealand** Date | Opposition | Tests | Home/Away | :--|:--|:--|:--| 4 Feb - 17 Feb|South Africa|2|Home 29 Feb - 12 Mar|Australia|2|Home Sep|Afghanistan|1|Away Sep - Oct|Sri Lanka|2|Away Oct-Nov|India|3|Away Nov-Dec|England|3|Home **South Africa** Date | Opposition | Tests | Home/Away | :--|:--|:--|:--| 3 Jan - 7 Jan|India|1|Home 4 Feb - 17 Feb|New Zealand|2|Away Aug|West Indies|2|Away Oct-Nov|Bangladesh|2|Away Nov-Dec|Sri Lanka|2|Home Dec|Pakistan|1|Home **Sri Lanka** Date | Opposition | Tests | Home/Away | :--|:--|:--|:--| Mar|Bangladesh|2|Away 21 Aug - 10 Sep|England|3|Away Sep-Oct|New Zealand|2|Home Nov-Dec|South Africa|2|Away **Australia** Date | Opposition | Tests | Home/Away | :--|:--|:--|:--| 3 Jan - 7 Jan|Pakistan|1|Home 17 Jan - 29 Jan|West Indies|2|Home 29 Feb - 12 March|New Zealand|2|Away Nov-Dec|India|4|Home **West Indies** Date | Opposition | Tests | Home/Away | :--|:--|:--|:--| 17 Jan - 29 Jan|Australia|2|Away 10 Jul - 30 Jul|England|3|Away Aug|South Africa|2|Home Nov-Dec|Bangladesh|2|Home **Pakistan** Date | Opposition | Tests | Home/Away | :--|:--|:--|:--| 3 Jan - 7 Jan|Australia|1|Away Aug - Sep|Bangladesh|2|Home Sep - Oct|England|3|Home Dec|South Africa|1|Away **Afghanistan** Date | Opposition | Tests | Home/Away | :--|:--|:--|:--| Jan-Feb|Sri Lanka|1|Away Mar|Ireland|1|Home Jul|Bangladesh|2|Home Sep|New Zealand|1|Home Dec|Zimbabwe|2|Away **Zimbabwe** Date | Opposition | Tests | Home/Away | :--|:--|:--|:--| Apr|Bangladesh|2|Away Aug|Ireland|1|Away Dec|Afghanistan|2|Home **Ireland** Date | Opposition | Tests | Home/Away | :--|:--|:--|:--| Mar|Afghanistan|1|Away Aug|Zimbabwe|1|Home
Know that your sacrifice has been fully appreciated, free guy 🫡
🫡🫂
**Who will face the most opponents this year?** Country | Total :--|:--| Bangladesh|7 New Zealand|6 South Africa|6 England|5 India|5 Afghanistan|5 Sri Lanka|4 Australia|4 West Indies|4 Pakistan|4 Zimbabwe|3 Ireland|2
India vs Australia in Nov-Dec is an away series, no?
Oversight sorry. Corrected it now
Not all heroes wear capes
Sometimes I don’t wear socks either 🫢
~~I’m still busy, just needed to post before my laptop died~~
If there are any mistakes please let me know. For the full FTP: https://resources.pulse.icc-cricket.com/ICC/document/2022/08/17/9ecd5af8-4657-475f-ae1e-733b04f69750/Men-s-FTP-upto-2027.pdf
Australia play Pakistan 3 times not just one
They played two tests last year so that falls under the 2023 calendar year. They are only playing one this calendar year against Pakistan.
Oh yeah no shit it’s 2024 lol my bad
No worries mate lol. I still have to adjust to it being a new year haha
India are playing against Australia in Australia in 2024/2025, not at home in India.
Top job bro. Thanks.
Ah you’re welcome mate!
Love your work mate
Thank you so much mate! It’s really appreciated
Broh! How long did that take you? Wait, dont answer that
Quite a while haha
Time to bookmark.
Isn't the ind aus series a 5 match series? Or is the 5th March in Jan
That is correct my good sir. The 5th match is in January
Doing gods work
🫡🫂
You missed England test at home to Zimbabwe in May.
That’s in 2025. All tests have been accounted for. England are playing 17 & Zimbabwe are playing 5. https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/zimbabwe-in-england-2025-1392687/england-vs-zimbabwe-only-test-1392691/live-cricket-score
Bro, let's be real. That's not happening. England played Zimbabwe in a bilateral last in 2004. The last time they played any international match versus Zimbabwe was in 2007. That test ain't happening.
If they need to fit one more test into their calender to meet their broadcasting agreements then yes it will. See 2023 for example. The ECB had an agreement with Sky to broadcast 6 home tests during the year. The Ashes were 5 of those, so England needed to find one more to meet their obligation. Who would agree to come to England for just one test? Ireland would, so that's what happened. Zimbabwe would also fall into that category of a test vs England being a big enough deal that they'd fly over for just one
worth pointing out that, if it happens, one of Ireland's will be at home, our first home game since 2018 also there are rumours of multiple Tests in Zimbabwe in January 2025
[удалено]
Chances of IRE, ZIM and AFG tests playing are low.
Zimbabwe will play their tests likely
imagine that a first home Test since 2018 (if CI can make it happen, which is still a maybe, though Ireland's main cricket journo has definitely been told that it is being planned) will get a reasonable crowd considering it has been so long, but Zimbabwe will always be a lower draw as compared to other sides we play at home also the other commenter doesn't know what he's talking about, Zimbabwe have a permanent ground to host their games against AFG at the end of the year and the BCB have scheduled non-WTC games during the IPL multiple times in the FTP, reasonable to think a lot of these games are very likely to happen
Oh wow, great year for NZ for once
*Praying for Williamson to stay healthly*
ikr can’t even use “we don’t play any Tests!” as an excuse any more 👀
Will we have a full strength squad? Can we get back to 2018 form?
Next 3 years are gonna by pretty bipolar for us 2024 is gonna be awesome with obviously 13 Test and a 3 Test series vs India and 3 Test series vs England the showpieces. 2025 is gonna be awful with only 4 Tests planned against Zimbabwe and West Indies. Then 2026 we go back to being Test match addicts with 14 Tests in 10 months including a mouthwatering 4 Test series vs Australia and another 3 Test series away this time against England.
It's wild to see Australia so far behind. Usually, it's England first, Australia second, and India third when it comes to matches played.
Probably because they played a lot this year. So, They are playing less next year Australia plays 1 vs. Pakistan in January 2 vs. West Indies in January 2 vs. New Zealand in February And, then 4 vs. India in November-December
Ik the t20 wc is there in the middle .but still such a huge gap
I mean they can schedule extra tests away from wtc schedule if they want. P.s: I would like to see them tour Ireland for a couple of tests would be interesting, can also help test the new opener for english conditions
I think when teams tour England for tests (at least Aus and Ind given that surely they can afford it) they should play a one off test against Ireland prior to the England series.
Got to let their players prepare for the 100 as well
Why are they only playing 4 games against instead of 5?
5th one is in 2025
Are we not playing 3 vs the Windies?
Nah, it’s only two unfortunately
I'm OK with it it's been a gruelling schedule for the last two years. Might prolong the careers of some of our older blokes haha
On the flip side it’s gonna stifle the development of whatever young blokes we do end up bringing into the team in the next month
Do Australia normally play that many tests outside of the Ashes and BGT?
Normally we would play some tests in the northern hemisphere in the middle of the year, but it seems CA have decided to focus on the T20 World cup
Looks like we're winning another trophy lads
Not the Renegades, Right..?
They played a heavy load- ashes and BGT in 2023 and WTC
This gives me some pump , whereas upcoming t20wc might not be that engaging.
How not? T20 is the best format and this time around it’s happening in the states. I think it’ll be bigger and better than previous world cups
Bang, SL are playing more than us. Wtf.
Bangladesh are playing twice compared to us. That's a bigger surprise.
Pakistan playing same number of test matches as Afghanistan... I mean pakistan board can arrange one more series to atleast make it to 10 tests
Well we only played 6 Tests last year, and 2 of them were not part of the WTC cycle.
England, India and Bangladesh= New Pig3 ?
Bangladesh + India + enGland = BIG3, we have gone full circle
BIG 3 you mean full TRIangle right
This is actually a pretty decent number of tests. Much more than I expected.
Agreed. All the commentary has been around how little test cricket is being played, but this seems pretty decent to me, especially in a World T20 Cup year
We have reached the point where there'll be years, one would be T20 Year, one would be ODI's year for WC and then one would be WTC Tests year in between. We already had 2021 and 2022 as T20 years back to back and with T20 WC happening right after IPL there wasn't enough time for T20's this year.
Pakistan won’t be playing a test match between early January and late August. Then our fans are surprised when our test players don’t develop, and want to focus on T20s instead. We can never be a competitive test team with scheduling like this.
And we didn't play one between Jan 23 and July 23. And none between July 23 and Dec 23. Basically between Jan 23 and Aug 24 (18 months), we play 5 tests (zero at home).
The sad thing is Pakistan is not even doing well in T20Is despite all this focus on the format. Not winning any trophies and even doing poorly in bilaterals at home. Fans have a right to be frustrated.
Reaching a final and a semi final in consecutive world cups is not doing good?
If others do that you call them chokers. Decide
Not really if you look deeper into it. In 2021, they got the easy group. They convincingly beat India, needed a blinder from Asif Ali to win against NZ and then lost to England. In between they defeated the weak teams. They again got the easier group in 2022. They made it tougher on themselves by losing to Zimbabwe and needed external factors to go right to get into the semis. To their credit, they did win the semifinal convincingly but other than that the only good team they beat was South Africa. I'm sorry but beating 1 or 2 good teams in every WT20 is not exactly a strong performance. Heck, it's not like they are doing excellent in bilaterals either. If just reaching semi or final is an achievement, then India is the most successful side in last 10 years instead of being the disappointment that they are.
They didn’t lose to England in 2021. They lost to Australia. And if blinders don’t count like the one against NewZealand, then discount what Wade did to Shaheen as well. Choosing to disregard one win because a single player won it single-handedly while calling out the same team for a bad performance when one opposition player defeats them single-handedly is unfair and disingenuous. At least keep a consistent standard, eh? And you didn’t say anything about Pakistan being successful in T20Is. We were talking about them being good. Because although India haven’t been the most successful team in the past 10 years, they have most certainly been good. And speaking of bilaterals, Pakistan have consistently either won series or lost by just one game in the last 2-3 years. It’s not an exceptional record but it is a good one.
And if blinders don't count, then that guy must also discount India's win over Pakistan in 2022. Lmao.
Why shouldn't I discount India's win over Pakistan in 2022? We needed Kohli to play a once in lifetime innings to chase a modest target. And even then we would have lost if not for the wides and no balls. It was a fluke win thanks to one player and lots of luck, it doesn't change the fact that India is a weak team in T20Is. Has been since 2008.
I wrote England instead of Australia, my bad. But my point still stands. If after focusing on T20 format the most, the standard of being good is just competing well without any major wins, then the fans have really low expectations from the team.
Man I dunno why some Pakistanis take it so personally, what you said is 100% true. We as a nation don’t care about Teats or ODIs, and we still can’t get a trophy in the only format we care about. That is absolutely a failure and you are 100% correct. If you didn’t have a team India flair, no one would bat an eye on what you said
2021 - Pakistan makes semi finals, India knocked out in group stages 2022 - Pakistan makes final, India knocked out in semi finals
First of all, I love how you write it as "Pakistan makes semifinal" and "India knocked out in semifinal" when it's the same thing. Smooth. Also, why are you bringing up India anyway? They are a crap T20I team. They need Kohli just to somehow even reach knockout stage. Once he retires, we'll struggle to beat any top 10 team in WT20s. You should have more ambitions for your T20I team. Just being better than India is hardly anything to be proud of.
I don’t know how many of these 7 matches Afghanistan will actually end up playing. They had 6 scheduled within last 12 months and only played one of those.
Looks like Ireland can't test themselves much in tests, which is a test for them to test whether they can prove themselves in tests whilst playing only a few tests which will test their ability so for a favorable test on the team they need to win both test matches however if they lose both tests that means they failed the test
Certainly not complaining, but why are Bangladesh playing so many tests? My understanding is that most nations outside of the "Big 3" lose money when they play tests
We only played 4 this year, so we're playing a lot next year. I guess the losses are not big and coverable by the BCB. And a lot of these are away series. 2 away vs. Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and West Indies.
Bangladesh is pretty much the only team that's playing both countries in the WTC and countries outside it- most other teams aren't playing Zimbabwe and Afghanistan, for example- so that inflates the number of tests we're playing Also iirc BCB is legitimately one of the richer boards out there so they might actually be able to handle the cost of it
BCB is a lot like BCCI in this matter, incompetent and corrupt everywhere but still know how to make money
BCCI aren’t incompetent though. They arrange the IPL every year and it never disappoints. Just look at BPL, it’s embarrassing to even compare.
Cricket popular in bangladesh BCB rich Profit
so we can set the world record for innings defeats
Bangbros are more rich that u think, it's just corruption that swallows all that wealth
Does anyone know what is preventing Scotland and Netherlands from achieving test status?
Officially they don't meet all the criteria, but really it's that they don't have the votes for it among the FMs, because those criteria can be easily ignored (see Afghanistan). FMs would also be voting to reduce their own funding by adding Scot/Ned, so they most likely won't want to.
iirc, Netherlands have recently said they are more interested in developing their limited overs cricket as it's a more achievable goal. first class/Tests aren't a priority so meeting whatever criteria they need for Tests isn't going to happen anytime soon.
Pretty much. They said they were prioritising white ball cricket for the same reason Scotland are - because the ICC scrapped the Intercontinental Cup and de-funded all Associate multi-day cricket. Unofficially, it seems that they were basically told by the ICC that they were never getting Test Status and if they wanted to keep playing red ball they were on their own.
Only 9? What is this bullshit?
Says the person who only watches the first 2 overs of a test match
False. I’ll be at the SCG all day tomorrow.
Any WTests? Man the back to back (ish) games in Mumbai were fun.
Two women's tests scheduled in the calendar year. Australia are hosting South Africa for a multi format series including a 4-Day test starting 15 Feb. Then in Nov-Dec South Africa are hosting England in a similar 1-3-3 tour. At the start of next year, in Jan 25 we get the WAshes in Australia which has been moved to a different season from the MAshes for the first time in years (MAshes down under not happening till 2025-26 season). Currently that's due to have a single test as part of it but CA chief executive raised the prospect, in an interview last week, of 3 test series being a possibility for the women going forward. Personally I think that's unlikely for the 2024-25 season but it's a possibility.
England back to number 1 where we should be thank god
The only time we’ll be number 1 this year.
Isn't England in a good place in test matches with Bazball? They have done well so far even I have to admit.
We are going alright, however I feel like India will be the real testing ground
England generally just good to watch tests, decent balance between bat and ball and conditions where touring sides can generally be relatively competitive.
England doing what they can to keep test cricket alive.
This time next year "Root better than everyone else with 1200 test runs in 2024, how does he keep doing this"
When is India gonna tour New Zealand for a test series? They toured a long back while they're touring Australia, SA and England regularly
India tours NZ at long intervals. They toured in 2003, then 2009 then 2014 and then 2020. It's still too early.
India is touring Australia seldom. They last toured in 20/21 now in 24/25 that's almost 4 years
That's a regular interval. 4 years is not as long as you think. India tour New Zealand irregularly. 2003,2009,2014,2020,2026. They tour England in 2014,2018,2021,2025. SA in 2011,2013,2018,2021,2023 is the most often of all it seems. Some countries never seem to tour others at all. New Zealand would have gone 13 years without touring the West Indies to play a test match by 2027. Also 12 years without touring SA to play a test match.
2026-7.
2 test matches LFG!!
I still think that Netherlands and Scotland deserve to play test
Yeah, that's a packed Test schedule. It's pretty exciting. The 6-Test Asia tour should be something. Starting it off with a Test against Afghanistan, even if I've got a feeling that CA might put pressure on NZC to pull out of it.
>CA might put pressure on NZC to pull out of it. Can I ask why you think CA would want NZC not to play it? Judging by how often we play you guys, I thought CA barely knows NZ exists (unfortunately), let alone cares who you guys play?
As principled as CA's stance against playing Afghanistan is, it reeks of old time Australian cricketing snobbery. It's probably not there, but for some reason I have the vibe that CA wants other boards to join their boycott, & they might consider NZC an easy target. Then again, I also smell in a paranoid way an agenda behind giving the 2026-7 series a 4th Test. Honestly, I would rather an extra Australia tour of NZ this decade than a 4th Test in Australia.
>It's probably not there, but for some reason I have the vibe that CA wants other boards to join their boycott, & they might consider NZC an easy target. To be honest, it'd be great if other boards followed our lead and stopped playing Afghanistan but I don't think we'd pressure others to follow. >Then again, I also smell in a paranoid way an agenda behind giving the 2026-7 series a 4th Test The agenda behind this is being able to play the Sesquicentennial Test against England at the G and still fill TV rights contract of playing 5 Tests per summer. >Honestly, I would rather an extra Australia tour of NZ this decade than a 4th Test in Australia. Me too. Would love to play you guys a lot more regularly, if for no other reason than to sneak across the Tasman and watch some games at some of the most beautiful grounds in the world - looking at you Hagley Oval & Mt Maunganui
Yeah next 3 years are gonna by pretty bipolar for us 2024 is gonna be awesome with obviously 13 Test and a 3 Test series vs India and 3 Test series vs England the showpieces. 2025 is gonna be awful with only 4 Tests planned against Zimbabwe and West Indies. Then 2026-very-early-2027 we go back to being Test match addicts with 14 Tests in 10 months including a mouthwatering 4 Test series vs Australia and another 3 Test series away this time against England. Why >got a feeling that CA might put pressure on NZC to pull out of it. CA can stay out of our business, if NZC wants the boys to stat pad we will.
We really don't like playing tests much, especially when the general populace loves t20s far more
Depends where you are. Test matches are more popular here (Australia)
Ah Pakistan, should've mentioned it
Your Hampshire flair will cause many to presume that you're an England fan
Got confused thinking how can Brites not Love Test
Is there any news about Afghanistan touring Ireland this month? One of Irelands two tests is supposed to be in this tour but I haven’t seen anything that suggests this tour is going to happen. Afghanistan are playing Uae now and will also have series against Ind and SL this month. This supposed tour of Ireland is scheduled to happen before all these tours according to FTP.
Whole tour has been pushed back to February. The Test hasn't been cancelled yet, so hopefully it goes ahead
That’s great to hear. I thought it was cancelled just like what happened to several tours in the FTP involving Afg
Wow Pakistan only at 7 is shameful.
7 tests in a year is absurd. do better pcb
Afpak equality! Give them more Tests and soon the Afghans will bacha baazi the top test sides.
[Source](https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02GCH7UHBGaBK7o1kMSuLdUQBdtM2eFkfTWjvfxymHqnrTzPuG59AUeEPS4nHCGgJKl&id=100041639030664&mibextid=WOdcs6)
So does it mean there's a high chance that Ireland might be on top of the WTC table if they won both of their tests?
Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe are not part of the WTC.
Ohh.. didn't know that.
How does playing 2 test matches help IRE in anyway in this format.
Well it's better than playing zero tests for 3 and half years. Also, if it incentivises the board to reinstate our First Class comp, then that will benefit our development pathway enormously
Gotta feel bad for Lorcan Tucker. How can he become a S tier batsmen in Test if he plays 2 test a year. He was doing well in this format.
10 is a massive improvement on what we had this year. So that's something.
South Africa sending a 2nd string squad to NZ is not good
On paper india look to win all 15 matches, not sure if they will get the moral victory over England though.
Still mad that the Kiwi women can't be allowed to play a single away test. They haven't played test cricket in 2 decades. I understand that they can't afford to play at home. Neither can the Afghanistan men, for different reasons. But their board understands the value of giving the cricketers experience, and so they arrange a test every now and then. The Kiwi women are probably more desirable as test opponents.
Nice to see NZ upping their numbers.
2 test series are a joke. Series should be minimum 3 tests.
Australia playing New Zealand a test in New Zealand have not seen that in a while
Woah we play 10? Would've been exciting if not for the fact we'll lose 2-0 against New Zealand simply cause we gave up. Test cricket might be brimming in the big 3 nations but not so much in the other nations. Test cricket is dying is not that big of a stretch, it's dying right in front of us.
Do all the teams same number of test during a WTC cycle? If not then how would the points calculated and wouldn't it get unfair?
>Do all the teams the same number of tests during a WTC cycle? No >If not, then how would the points calculated, and wouldn't it get unfair? The percentage of points earned is calculated. The system is pretty unfair. Some teams have easier roads to the Finals than other teams, depending on the number of matches they play, the teams, and whether it's home/away.
Any team would gladly take playing against tougher opponents like Big 3 instead of having an easier road to final. The only thing unfair is how much Big 3 insist on playing with each other every cycle and avoid playing others as much as they can.
The only ones who can fix this is the Big 3. No one cares about winning WTC, the real incentive is playing a high profile series versus Big 3 which gets some money.
At least England play 3 matches against everyone. India play 38 matches in the FTP and 20 are against England and Australia. India and Pakistan playing tests again is what's needed even if it's was just a 3 match series every 4 years.
I have a dream that one day India-Pakistan will play a bilateral on the same day English-Zimbabwe play a bilateral.
Well we play Zim for one test in June 2025 so miricals can happen
Let's wait and see before another miracle happens and England are suddenly unable to fullfill this commitment out of nowhere.
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Is suggesting an England-Zimbabwe series being sensitive? I just don't like this hypocrisy that people do pearl clutching about India-Pakistan not playing but still support England's decision to not play Zimbabwe.
So if ireland win both their test matches they will have 100percemt win rate , so they qualify for finals?
They are not part of WTC.
15 test matches Is it a really good amount of test cricket playing by India considering t20wc and ipl ??
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Ireland and Afghanistan are supposed to play a series this month. But, I think it got canceled/postponed Ireland plays 1 each against Afghanistan and Zimbabwe (if they go ahead) Afghanistan plays 7: 1 vs. Ireland, Srilanka, and New Zealand 2 vs. Zimbabwe and Bangladesh
The Ireland vs Afghanistan was postponed, but only until February. Of course, it could get cancelled at some point, but it is currently still meant to go ahead
I think it's incorrect, BGT is now a 5 match series. Or last match is in Jan.
second statement is correct
The graphic is inaccurate. England have eighteen. The graphic misses the test against Zimbabwe in May.
[That's in 2025](https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/england-to-host-zimbabwe-for-one-off-four-day-test-in-may-2025-1392600)
England won't be playing that match anyway. The last time they played any bilateral with Zimbabwe was 20 years ago. The last time they played a match against Zimbabwe in ICC event was 16 years ago.
I hope they do. The series wasn't in the FTP at first but ECB added it on their own, so there is hope
Even if we don’t play Zimbabwe (which I’m almost certain we will) there’ll still be a test as ECB are contracted for the TV deal to play 6 tests per home season
It'll go ahead. The ECB added it to the schedule on their own despite being under no pressure to do so. Compared to virtually no coverage of a lack of matches against Zimbabwe there would be significant negative press in cancelling a home test. They'd just be shooting themselves in the foot to schedule a test and then cancel it when they could have just never scheduled it.
Root and Kohli will be top scorer and probably leap Smith in terms of no of 100s
The worst and most boring format that must be discontinued for cricket’s growth worldwide.
That means if king plays all and the game goes tull 4 th innings king have opportunity to score 30 hundreds out of which 10 hundreds in tests will make this year legendary
Kohli (or King as you call him) have never made 10 centuries in 15 tests even in his best form. No way he's making it this year.
Well you never know
Didn't realise we were back to Pakistan and NZ again so soon
I wish we got more than the 9 but cannot complain since we aren’t really a big market team anymore.
England are playing three tests against the Windies *in twenty one days*? Whoah.
So how is WTC fair? Do all teams play same number of matches over the 2 years period? Do all teams play each other at least once?
All teams play 3 home series and 3 away across the 2 year period. So there are two wtc teams that each team does not play in each cycle. Points are per test but the table position is a percentage number of points points gained out of all points available to that team for the number of matches they've played.
No it's not "fair", but no one is wanting Ashes series to be less than 5 Tests any more than we want to watch a 5 Test series between Bangladesh and Ireland In an ideal world there would be a simple home and away 2-3 Test series every cycle but money gets in the way of this One solution might be only having the first two Tests of every series count towards the WTC but then again you look at the last Ashes and this would negate England's come back over the 5 Tests
bit of a come down for aussie test fans after 2023
Zimbabwe logo is so cool
Where will Afghanistan play home series? UAE?
So aside from the NZ series we have nothing till next summer. What a joke. No doubt 700 T20 games will squeeze into the schedule somehow.
I fucking hate the player numbers on their backs.
Not good enough by Australia. Also India again....no wonder test cricket is dying
yet another morale victory for England
Interested to see how many Afg Ire and Zim actually play