World Test Championship standings: the run-in to the 2027 final

As at 7 September 2026, Australia lead the 2025-27 World Test Championship on 80.00 per cent of the points available to them, ahead of South Africa on 75.00 and New Zealand on 72.22. The top two teams after the league stage qualify for the 2027 final. Pakistan are ninth on 16.67 per cent.

Who leads the World Test Championship right now?

Australia. As at 7 September 2026 they top the 2025-27 table on 80.00 per cent, with eight wins from ten Tests. South Africa, the reigning champions, are second on 75.00, and New Zealand third on 72.22.

Here is the full table, taken from the ICC's published standings and checked line by line against ESPN's version of the same competition.

Two things stand out before any analysis. South Africa, who won the last final, have played four Tests. England have played fifteen and sit sixth. A World Test Championship table is never a snapshot of nine teams at the same point in a season, because every board schedules its six series differently.

Why is a team with four Tests above a team with fifteen?

Because the table ranks on percentage, not on total points won. A Test win is worth 12 points, a tie 6 and a draw 4. A team's points percentage, usually shortened to PCT, is the points it has actually taken divided by the points it could have taken from the matches it has played. Four Tests means a maximum of 48. Fifteen Tests means a maximum of 180.

That is why England's 62 points, the third-highest raw total in the cycle, come out as 34.44 per cent and sixth place, while South Africa's 36 points come out as 75.00 and second. Every line in the table above reconciles: multiply matches played by twelve, divide the points by that number, and the published percentage appears to two decimal places.

It also means a team's position moves whenever it plays, not only when it wins. South Africa's 75.00 per cent is built on a very small sample, and their next assignment is a home series against the side above them.

What have slow over-rate penalties actually cost?

More than most readers assume. A side loses one point for every over it finishes behind the required rate, with the deduction waived when the opposition is bowled out inside 80 overs. Four penalties have been applied in this cycle so far.

England's two penalties total 14 points. A Test win is worth 12. Without those deductions England would hold 76 points from fifteen matches, which is 42.22 per cent rather than 34.44, and would put them above Sri Lanka and within sight of India instead of adrift in sixth.

Pakistan's eight-point deduction is the difference between 16.67 per cent and 25.00. West Indies lost two points against Sri Lanka in July. None of this changes who played the better cricket. It changes where the table says they are, and in a competition settled on two decimal places that is not a footnote.

How much cricket does each team have left?

Every side plays six series in the cycle, three at home and three away, with series ranging from two Tests to five. Counting the fixtures the ICC lists as still to come gives the picture below. The final column is each team's ceiling: where it would finish having won every remaining Test and taken no further penalty.

Those ceilings are not published anywhere. They are derived from the two things that are: the current points, and the fixtures left. Add twelve points for each remaining Test, divide by twelve times the full cycle count, and that is the number.

Who is mathematically still in it?

All nine can still improve their position. The ceilings sort them into three groups.

• Above anything that has ever qualified: South Africa (92.86), Australia (90.91) and New Zealand (89.58) can each still finish comfortably clear of the bar.
• Live, but only on a near-perfect run: Bangladesh (77.78), India (70.37) and Sri Lanka (66.67) need to win almost everything left to reach a qualifying number.
• Ceiling below the recent bar: England (53.17), Pakistan (48.72) and West Indies (32.14) cannot reach the percentage that has taken second place in a completed cycle, even by sweeping what remains.

West Indies are the starkest case. Two Tests left, and a ceiling of 32.14 per cent that sits below where South Africa are today. Their cycle is effectively already scored. You can watch each result move the table on the Cricket Pulse Live series and tournaments pages.

What has qualification actually taken before?

The 2023-25 cycle is the closest guide. South Africa topped it on 69.44 per cent and Australia took second on 67.54. Those two met at Lord's in June 2025, where South Africa won by five wickets for their first title.

Roughly two-thirds of the available points, then, has been the recent price of a place in the final. Read against that, the current top three are all ahead of schedule and the chasing group is not.

What does the third Test at Edgbaston decide?

England host Pakistan at Edgbaston from 9 September, the last Test of a series England have already won. They took Headingley by an innings and 103 runs and Lord's by 194. Their squad of fifteen is Joe Root (captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Sonny Baker, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Sam Cook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Emilio Gay, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Jamie Smith and Josh Tongue, with Matthew Fisher the bowler to drop out.

Pakistan have gone much further than a change of personnel. Seven players were released, among them Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq and Salman Ali Agha. Four uncapped players came in: Saad Baig, Mohammad Imran Jnr, Mohammad Imran Randhawa and Razaullah. Saim Ayub, Abdullah Fazal and Arafat Minhas return. Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul have left, with white-ball coaches Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke taking the final Test.

Neither side can reach the 2027 final, so the twelve points on offer decide position rather than qualification. For Pakistan, with four Tests still to come after this one, the more useful question is what the new-look side looks like. Ball-by-ball coverage is on the live scores page.

Where does the cycle go next?

Australia's three remaining series are all hard, and two are away. They tour South Africa first: Durban from 9 October, Gqeberha from 18 October and Johannesburg from 27 October. It is Australia's first Test tour of South Africa since 2018, and only five of the sixteen named (Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Steve Smith and Matthew Renshaw) have played a Test there.

Marnus Labuschagne kept his place despite not having scored a century since July 2023, and Cooper Connolly, Matthew Kuhnemann and Michael Neser were added as cover for South African conditions. Starc arrives as the No.1 bowler in the ICC Men's Test Bowling Rankings, a position he reached in August 2026 after taking ten wickets against Bangladesh in Mackay, ending Jasprit Bumrah's run at the top since February 2024.

After South Africa, Australia host New Zealand for four Tests late in 2026, then tour India for five. That run-in is why 80.00 per cent is less settled than it looks, and it also shapes the second qualifying place, because South Africa and New Zealand both have to play Australia and India's remaining schedule is a home series against them plus two Tests in New Zealand.

Every fixture in the cycle is listed on the schedule page, and the current team and player standings on ICC rankings.

Statistics in this article were checked as at 7 September 2026.

Share this article