The ICC is finally considering adding all 12 test-playing nations to the World Test Championship. Three countries have been left out since the competition began.
Twelve countries hold Test status. Nine play in the World Test Championship. That gap has never made sense, and the ICC is now, finally, reconsidering it.
The news that Zimbabwe, Ireland, and Afghanistan may be included in the WTC is welcome, but it comes after years of exclusion that should never have happened. These are full Test-playing members. The moment the World Test Championship was conceived, all 12 should have been in it. Leaving three of them out was not a scheduling quirk or a logistical oversight — it was a structural failure that stunted the development of three cricketing nations.
You've got 12 test-playing countries, but only nine are playing in the World Test Championship.
The argument for keeping Zimbabwe, Ireland, and Afghanistan out has never held up. The implicit logic — that they are not yet competitive enough to belong — is self-defeating. You cannot expect these teams to grow if they are kept on the outside looking in. Competitive Test cricket, played regularly against the full range of opponents, is exactly the environment that produces improvement. Denying them that environment and then pointing to their relative weakness as justification for continued exclusion is a circular argument.
"How do you expect them to grow unless they're included along with the rest of the full members?"
The WTC was supposed to give Test cricket structure and meaning across the cycle. If you accept that premise, then every Test-playing nation deserves a place at the table. Partial inclusion undermines the whole point.
Common sense has prevailed. Whether this change comes in the next WTC cycle or beyond, including all 12 Test nations is the only arrangement that is consistent with what Test membership is supposed to mean. If a country has earned the right to play Test cricket, that right should extend to the championship built around it.
Welcome to the World Test Championship, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, and Ireland. It took too long.
The ICC's move, if confirmed, does not deserve special praise — it is simply the correction of a mistake that ran for too long. But it is the right call, and for fans of these three sides, it is a meaningful one.
