The International Cricket Council (ICC) is likely to ponder over a new bonus points system during its board meeting in April which could give more weightage to bigger victories, especially overseas, during the next World Test Championship cycle. The 2025-27 WTC cycle will begin with India's five-match away Test series against England in June. As per the prevailing rules, the team winning by the smallest margin or by an innings gets 12 points, six points for a tie and four points for a draw. But this could see a change as the global governing body, as per a report in Telegraph, is considering awarding bonus points for innings victories or for a win above a certain big margin such as 100 runs.
"In fact, issues such as giving bonus points for innings wins etc has been in continuous discussion from the beginning of the WTC, as many teams felt that due weight is not getting for wins against big teams," a source close to the development told PTI.
"So, such topics have been a part of discussions, and this could again come up for deliberations," he said.
But this could now change as the ICC might bring in bonus points for landslide wins, and extra points could be given to victories over frontline teams such as India, Australia and England, as per their rankings.
“Yeah, it's a good move if it really happens. The teams will be more motivated to go for results, as we could see some exciting games,” a former India player told PTI on condition of anonymity.
The ICC is also mulling giving extra points for wins away from home. “Yeah, it will be a motivating factor for, you know, those ‘smaller' teams, Look, when New Zealand beat India last year, it was a historic win for them as not many teams came here and beat us. But they did not got any extra points for it." “While winning away from home in itself can act as a motivating factor, now the teams will have that carrot in front of them — extra points, if it really happens,” he added.
Other than this, the ICC board meeting might also consider the two-tier Test system, which is vocally supported by Cricket Australia.
“It needs a lot of discussion before putting into practice as some teams might feel deprived of regular chances to play against strong teams like India or Australia.
“As it is, series between India and New Zealand or Australia and West Indies are less in numbers compared to series between top teams in a WTC cycle. So, they should think about it a lot before implementing,” the player added.