Williamson calls for structural tweaks in WTC to ensure 'level competition'

Kane Williamson has opened up on the scheduling of the World Test Championship, calling for an even distribution of fixtures amongst all participating teams a level playing field. The former New Zealand skipper also discussed the changing dynamic of the format in terms of the outcome of the games.  

"It comes back to scheduling. I love Test cricket and I'd love to see it stay and I'd love to see it be a pathway for young cricketers still, alongside the T20 format. If you can prioritise windows where teams are playing each other consistently and somewhat evenly, then I think it just makes it [the WTC] a slightly more level competition," stated Williamson, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

"The context now in Test cricket has certainly increased the effort and results. We don't see draws anymore, basically, in Test cricket, so every team's pushing for a result when there's something on it. For us as a country, winning the inaugural Test Championship final, it was really special and a great moment in our history," he added.  

"You put a tournament in front of somebody or a team, and they're always quite keen to win it… Context is something that's been spoken about for a while now, and it is great to see that there's an effort to do that. It's just how you keep tinkering it because there's so many different opinions with teams, who they play and how you sort of continue to make it level," he said.

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Notably, South Africa will take on Australia in the final of the 2023-25 cycle of the WTC at Lord's in June. Interestingly, the Proteas played the joint-lowest number of matches in the current cycle (12). Australia, who finished second on the points table, played 19. South Africa's progression to the final with just 12 games against their name has brought the WTC under scrutiny as a tournament. 

"[Teams] get the cards that they are dealt and they try to make use of what's in front of them, and take those opportunities," Williamson said. "Naturally, the fact that it's different for each team is not ideal. Any time you get the opportunity to review after a two-year Test Championship window, to try and tweak it a little bit, that's fine. It's still in its infancy, really, as a competition, so you're always going to look at those things… It's tricky though: there's 12 months in a year, right? That's difficult."

Among other aspects of the international calendar in relation to the WTC, Williamson pushed for an assessment in how the upcoming cycles could be played. He highlighted the challenges for those outside of the 'big three' of Australia, England and India in the era of mushrooming franchise leagues.

"We're a small country and a smallish economy, certainly relative to some of the big, big nations," Williamson said. "You mentioned the big three, and the focus on the five Test-match series that they have, and I'm a fan of watching those too. But [the question is] where that leaves everybody else, not just in terms of how they fit in their international cricket, but how we end up playing each other, or how you can still get that even competition across the board. And not just that, but [how you] still create that pathway for young players to see their heroes perhaps playing for their country.

"There's so much cricket happening in the world, and so many different opportunities for players… The interesting part is what messages that sends to your young players, and what they aspire to be now. You can only say that's gone from [...] a pure Test focus, where that was the start of my career as a youngster, to maybe looking at playing in the IPL, or playing in some of these other big leagues, and country vs franchises and all that sort of discussion."

"At the moment, there's no clear windows that meet everybody's needs, and that's the tough part," Williamson said of the global calendar. "If you do have clear windows, and you do allow that full focus… then you can just take your attention there. What we're seeing a lot is players having to make decisions [themselves] and that takes away a little bit from one part, whether it's the international or the franchise space.

"Things are moving quickly… It's quite interesting, but I still absolutely love playing for New Zealand and I'm looking forward to doing that again in the future. But it is nice: there are some other options you can have, and with a young family as well, it's nice that they can have me around a little bit," he said.