With just over a year to go before the 2025-27 ICC World Test Championship final at Lord’s, Australia remain comfortably on top of the points table, but the chase behind them has tightened. According to a report carried by India’s state broadcaster Doordarshan News, Australia continue to hold the top spot, with South Africa second and New Zealand third, while England have moved a little closer to India in the standings after beating Pakistan in the third Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham.
A Table Shaped by Three Different Stories
Australia’s position at the summit reflects a near-unbroken run of results across the cycle so far, built on series wins that have included an Ashes retention and victories away from home. South Africa’s climb to second owes much to their 2-0 sweep of India in late 2025, their first series win on Indian soil in a quarter of a century, a result that reshaped the entire shape of the table by dropping India out of the top two. New Zealand’s rise into third place has come on the back of a strong home campaign, the kind of consistent form that has made them one of the more dangerous sides across red-ball cricket’s past two WTC cycles without yet converting that form into a title.
Bangladesh’s Unlikely Fourth Place
Perhaps the most eyebrow-raising detail in the current standings is Bangladesh sitting fourth, ahead of India, England, Sri Lanka and the West Indies. A separate report distributed by United News of India notes that Bangladesh have won three, lost two and drawn one of six Tests so far in the cycle, including a drawn series in Australia — a result that would have seemed implausible at the start of the cycle given Bangladesh’s historical struggles overseas against the strongest Test nations. That record now gives Bangladesh a legitimate, if still unlikely, path into the conversation about the top four as the cycle’s business end approaches.
England’s Edgbaston Win and the Chase for India
England’s victory over Pakistan in the third Test at Edgbaston was enough to move the team closer to India in the table, even as Pakistan slid further toward the bottom having already occupied last place, per the Doordarshan News report. England’s results this cycle have been a mix of thrilling home cricket and inconsistency away from it, a pattern that has defined Ben Stokes’ captaincy throughout its tenure: capable of beating any side in English conditions, but yet to turn that home dominance into the kind of away form that top-two WTC contention generally requires.
Pakistan’s Collapse to the Bottom
At the opposite end of the table, Pakistan’s defeat at Edgbaston extended a difficult cycle for Mohammad Rizwan’s side, who find themselves anchored at the bottom of the nine-team standings. Pakistan’s home conditions have traditionally been a leveller against stronger touring sides, but a lack of consistent results both at home and away has left the team with the most ground to make up of any Full Member nation in the current cycle, a sharp contrast with the credibility the side built during its brief rise up the table in the first WTC cycle several years ago.
Two Competing Views on Where the Race Stands
One reading of the table, favoured by Australian and South African commentators, treats the top two places as effectively a two-horse race given the gap both sides have built over the rest of the field, with the upcoming Australia-South Africa series in October potentially deciding the destination of top spot outright. A competing view, more popular among English and New Zealand observers, points out that percentage-based WTC tables can swing sharply within a handful of results, and that New Zealand’s or England’s remaining fixture list — which includes series against most of the teams currently above them — gives either side a realistic route to the final if they can string together wins across the next twelve months.
What’s Next
The table’s shape over the coming weeks will be heavily influenced by two series already underway or about to start: Australia’s three-Test tour of South Africa, a direct contest between the current first- and second-placed teams, and the ongoing calendar of fixtures involving Bangladesh, New Zealand and India that will determine whether Bangladesh’s surprising fourth-place finish holds up under sustained scrutiny. With the final scheduled for 9-13 June 2027 at Lord’s and only the top two qualifying, every series between now and then functions as a de facto eliminator for at least one of the teams currently chasing Australia and South Africa.
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