Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan have never played in the WTC, and the ICC’s Bali meeting may keep it that way
England are among those against a bigger Test championship, and the ICC board in Bali this week could leave three Full Members on the outside for 2027-29.
Nov 12, 2026
The plan to put all 12 Full Members into the next World Test Championship has run into trouble, and the ICC board meets in Bali this week with the 2027-29 cycle on the table. Cricinfo reports that the competition will most likely stay at nine teams, which would leave Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan outside it again. None of the three has ever played in it.
The meetings run from Wednesday, 11 November to Sunday, 15 November, the ICC’s last of the year. Eight ICC committees meet first, followed by the board. According to the ICC, WTC matchups for the 2027-29 and 2029-31 cycles will be proposed, and windows for every major men’s event from 2028 to 2035 will go up for approval.
Nine, maybe ten, but probably not 12
The WTC is in its fourth cycle, and the nine-team format has been argued over for a while. A two-tier league was floated and then dropped in late 2025. Since then, a single 12-team division had looked like the likely answer.
That now looks less certain. Cricinfo says the next cycle will probably stay at nine, with an outside chance that Zimbabwe come in to make it ten. Ireland’s appetite for regular Test cricket has been questioned because of their finances.
England are one of the obstacles. The ECB is against an expanded competition, according to the report, because more fixtures would mean more travel and a squeeze on their home summer. They are open to one-off Tests against Zimbabwe and Ireland outside the WTC, but not against Afghanistan, because of the Taliban government’s treatment of women and girls.
Zimbabwe have the most to lose. They want WTC status precisely because it would get them more Tests, and the fixtures have dried up since a busy 2025.
What it means for India
For India, a nine-team WTC keeps things much as they are: six series a cycle, all drawn from the same eight opponents, with points at stake in every Test. India’s next WTC fixtures are the two Tests in New Zealand, starting at the Basin Reserve in Wellington on 19 November.
I think the nine-team outcome would be a missed chance. A 12-team table would have given Afghanistan, whose batter Rahmat Shah has just become the first from his country in the top ten of the ICC Test batting rankings, a proper route to meaningful Test cricket. Keeping the competition closed protects the big boards’ calendars. It does nothing for the three Full Members who still have no way in.
The rest of the Bali agenda
The Future Tours Programme for 2027 to 2031 is also likely to be presented, since the current cycle ends in March. Cricinfo reports that England are set to tour Zimbabwe in 2028, possibly with at least one Test. England have played Zimbabwe in seven Tests, and the only two in Zimbabwe were the drawn series of December 1996.
A strategic review of international cricket by the consulting firm McKinsey is also going to the board, and the expectation is that fewer ODIs will be played in the next cycle, mostly bunched before the 2031 World Cup. The Governance Review Committee, chaired by BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia, will give its first recommendations. A task force will also present the next steps for a programme for Afghan refugee women cricketers.
ICC chairman Jay Shah said the meetings “demonstrate the strength of the ICC as the sport’s global governing body”. Whether the WTC stays at nine will say more about where that strength sits.