ICC World Test Championship to ‘go ahead as planned’

The ICC is confident the inaugural World Test Championship final, to be contested between India and New Zealand in Southampton in June, will go ahead as planned.

The final of the marquee event will be played from 18-22 June at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.

India is experiencing a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, prompting the United Kingdom, on Monday (19 April), to add India to its ‘red list’ and banning all arrivals from the country. 

However, the ICC is confident of staging the event as planned. “We are currently discussing with the UK Government the impact of countries being on the ‘red list’,” an ICC spokesperson said.

“The ECB and other members have demonstrated how we can stage international cricket safely in the middle of a pandemic, and we are confident that we can continue to do that and that the World Test Championship Final will go ahead as planned in June in the UK.”

India and New Zealand will go head-to-head in the final after finishing in the top two positions of the league table of the 

tournament.