At the end of the league stage the top two teams played in the final. Therefore, all participants did not play the same number of Tests, but played the same number of series.
Each series consisted of between two and five Test matches. Each team were scheduled to play six other opponents, three at home and three away. The tournament was played over two years. 8.1.4 Best bowling figures in an innings.5.6.1 Sir Vivian Richards Trophy (West Indies v South Africa).5.5.10 Sobers–Tissera Trophy (West Indies v Sri Lanka).5.5.8 Anthony de Mello Trophy (India v England).5.5.2 Border–Gavaskar Trophy (Australia v India).5.4.2 Wisden Trophy (England v West Indies).5.3.6 Basil D'Oliveira Trophy (South Africa v England).5.3.5 Trans-Tasman Trophy (Australia v New Zealand).5.3.2 Ganguly–Durjoy Trophy (India v Bangladesh).5.3.1 Freedom Trophy (India v South Africa).The final saw New Zealand win by eight wickets, securing their second global cricket title after their 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy win. On 6 March 2021, India also confirmed their berth for the final, after beating England by 3–1 in a home Test series. On 2 February 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Australia postponed their away series against South Africa, resulting in a guaranteed berth in the final for New Zealand. On 29 July 2019, the ICC officially launched the World Test Championship. Also, some of these nine teams would play additional Test matches during this period which were not part of this Championship, as part of the ICC Future Tours Programme for 2018–23, mainly to give games to the three Test playing sides not taking part in this competition. Some of the Test series in this Championship were part of a longer ongoing series, such as the 2019 Ashes series. In November 2020, the ICC announced that the finalists would be decided by percentage of points earned. However, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted on the Championship, with several rounds of matches being postponed or cancelled. In the case of a draw or a tie in the final, the two teams playing the final would be declared joint champions. Each team were able to score a maximum of 120 points from each series and the two teams with the most points at the end of the league stage would contest the final. Each series consisted of between two and five matches, so although all teams were to play six series (three at home and three away), they were not scheduled to play the same number of Tests. It featured nine of the twelve Test playing nations, each of whom was scheduled to play a Test series against six of the other eight teams. It came nearly a decade after the International Cricket Council (ICC) first approved the idea for a World Test Championship in 2010, and following two cancelled attempts to hold the inaugural competition in 20. It started on 1 August 2019 with the first Test of the 2019 Ashes series, and finished with the Final at the Rose Bowl, Southampton in June 2021. The 2019–2021 ICC World Test Championship was the inaugural edition of the ICC World Test Championship of Test cricket.