The “ICC Test Championship” is an international cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the ten Test-playing nations.
It’s basically a ranking system based on all Test matches played during the normal cricketing season.
The points earned for winning a Test match or series are distributed in such a way that if a team wins, it receives more points than its present rating, but if it loses, it receives fewer points, impacting the rating cumulatively.
A tie between two teams with different ratings will favour the lower-rated club at the expense of the higher-rated team.
On 1 April each year, the ICC Chief presents the ICC Test Championship mace to the team with the highest rating, along with a $1 million cash prize.
In Test cricket, Australia has always been dominating, having won the trophy eight times in the last 15 years.
Let’s take a look at the various teams that have won the prestigious award throughout the years.
| Team | Awarded |
| Australia | April 2003 |
| Australia | April 2004 |
| Australia | April 2005 |
| Australia | April 2006 |
| Australia | April 2007 |
| Australia | April 2008 |
| Australia | April 2009 |
| India | April 2010 |
| India | April 2011 |
| England | April 2012 |
| South Africa | April 2013 |
| South Africa | April 2014 |
| South Africa | April 2015 |
| Australia | April 2016 |
| India | April 2017 |
| India | April 2018 |
| India | April 2019 |
Until the ICC World Test Championship was established in 2019, the top-ranked Test team was granted the ICC Test Championship mace.
The mace is now due from last 2 years, to be awarded to the champions of the ICC World Test Championship.
The World Test Championship is going on in Southampton between India and New Zealand. The winner will get the ICC Test Mace and $1.6 million.
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