Updated 28 October 2026: In the ICC World Test Championship every Test is worth the same: 12 points for a win, 6 for a tie, 4 for a draw and nothing for a defeat. Teams are ranked on the percentage of the available points they have won, not on their points total, because they do not all play the same number of Tests. This page explains how that percentage is worked out, with examples. For the current 2025-27 table, see our World Test Championship guide.
WTC points for a win, tie, draw and defeat
| Result | Points | Share of the 12 available |
|---|---|---|
| Win | 12 | 100% |
| Tie | 6 | 50% |
| Draw | 4 | 33.33% |
| Defeat | 0 | 0% |
If a Test is abandoned and the pitch or outfield is rated unfit, the visiting team is given the win and the home team the defeat.
How the WTC points percentage is calculated
The points percentage is a team’s points from wins, draws and ties, minus any points it has lost for slow over rates, divided by the most it could have won, which is 12 times the number of Tests it has played. Multiply by 100 to get the percentage shown in the table.
Take a team that has played 10 Tests with six wins, two draws and two defeats. It has 80 points out of a possible 120, a points percentage of 66.67%. If it had also been docked 3 points for slow over rates, it would have 77 points and 64.17%. A team that has played only 4 Tests, with three wins and one defeat, has just 36 points but sits higher on 75.00%, which is why the table is ranked by percentage rather than by points.
| Team | Tests | W-D-L | Docked | Points | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team A | 10 | 6-2-2 | 0 | 80 of 120 | 66.67% |
| Team A, 3 docked | 10 | 6-2-2 | 3 | 77 of 120 | 64.17% |
| Team B | 4 | 3-0-1 | 0 | 36 of 48 | 75.00% |
Points deductions for slow over rates
A team that falls short of the minimum over rate in a WTC Test is given one penalty over for every full over it is short, and loses one point from its total for each penalty over. The deduction comes straight off the points in the calculation above, so it lowers the percentage too. Our guide to the slow over-rate penalty explains the over-rate rules in full.
What happens if teams finish level?
The top two teams on the table at the end of the cycle play the final. If two or more teams have the same points percentage, they are separated by the number of series won, then by their points percentage in away Tests only, and then by their place in the ICC Test team rankings immediately after the competition window closes (1 April 2027 for the 2025-27 cycle). If the final is drawn, tied or abandoned, both teams are declared joint champions.
How the WTC points system has changed
The first championship, in 2019-21, gave 120 points to each series and split them across its matches, so a win was worth 60 points in a two-Test series but 24 in a five-Test series. A tie was worth half a win and a draw a third of one. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced series to be postponed, the ICC announced in November 2020 that the finalists would be decided by percentage of points earned instead. India finished top with 520 points out of 720, or 72.2%, and New Zealand second with 420 out of 600, 70%. New Zealand won the final by eight wickets.
For the second cycle the ICC moved to the same 12, 4 and 6 points for every match. Announcing the change on 14 July 2021, its acting chief executive Geoff Allardice said: “We received feedback that the previous points system needed to be simplified.” The percentage ranking introduced during the pandemic was kept, and the same system is used in the 2025-27 cycle.
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