“I’d like to see the World Test Championship Final potentially in a three-match series” – Nathan Lyon

Australia’s veteran spinner Nathan Lyon wants the World Test Championship final to potentially be played in a three-match series. After every two years, WTC Final is a one-off game between the top two teams in the standings with the highest PCT.

Earlier, after losing the opening WTC Final against New Zealand, former Indian captain Virat Kohli had suggested the same idea of playing a three-match Test series to decide the World Test champions.

New Zealand won the opening edition of the WTC against India whereas Australia won the second WTC after beating India.

Nathan Lyon said on the ICC website, “One thing I would like to see, I’d like to see the World Test Championship Final potentially in a three-match series. That may become a little bit better because you potentially can lose using a Test match in one session where [in a three-match series] it may allow teams to bounce back all your show their dominance and win 3-0. We’re pretty time-poor anyway and that’s going to be a challenge but that’s one thing I would change.”

The Australia off-spinner reckons the Big Three – India, England, and Australia could each host a Test match for the WTC final even if managing the logistics could be a hustle.

“You potentially could go one in England, one in India, one in Australia, so you have all different conditions, but obviously, the timing of that changes everything. I don’t think we’re going to get on the MCG in the middle of August, just putting it out there,” added Lyon.

As Lyon is not part of Australia’s limited-over formats, he feels the WTC is like the World Cup for him.

“It’s massive, but I feel like the World Test Championship for me is like the World Cup and that’s a genuine big World Cup. When you are competing against the best for long periods of time over a two-year period, you have to be good for the whole lot. It’s not tournament play. You can’t just be scraping into the semi-finals and losing two games or what not. You’ve got to be consistent over the two years of the cycle,” Nathan Lyon in the same interview.

Lyon has scalped 88 wickets in 20 Test matches at an average of 26.12 in the ongoing cycle of the WTC.