Cricket's complex path: South Africa, Michael Vaughan, and the World Test Championship

Is it the World Test Championship? Not according to ex-England captain Michael Vaughan OBE.

As South Africans have rightly been celebrating their side's journey into the World Test Championship (WTC) final, Vaughan, speaking recently on Fox Cricket, tipped ice-cold water on their celebrations, claiming the Proteas qualified "on the back of beating pretty much nobody." He went further, saying Temba Bavuma's team didn't "warrant being in the World Test Championship final with whom they have played over the last two years." Strong words from Vaughan, as is his want—and a little muddled!

Just a side-note on Mr Vaughan: he professes to be a Yorkshireman, but then we know he was born under the straight spire of Worsley, Manchester. This made 'Virgil' Vaughan a Lancashire export, to of all places Yorkshire, who, for a period, allowed his self-promoting persona to flourish. Although my mail now has him in the comfortable environs afforded by Cheshire—of course, Alderley Edge—we should take his disparaging remarks about South Africa's path to the World Test Championship final with a generous pinch of salt.

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That said, granted, South Africa's road to Lord's was unconventional. But, the tournament's irregular schedule is a trademark of the ICC's operating style, creating a complex system that even dedicated fans struggle to grasp. Looking at the final standings, one can't help but wonder: how could anyone explain this format to someone new to cricket? You can take a look Here.

In an ideal world—without BCCI interference—the World Test Championship would follow more conventional lines: every team would play the same number of matches, face every opponent, and split games between home and away venues. But then reality and the 'big three' intervene—broadcasting rights and revenue demands make this plausible balance impossible, leaving us with today's dysfunctional format—a format open to misinterpretation—as demonstrated by Mr Vaughan.

It's also worth noting the disparity that exists in importance across the nine participating countries. The WTC failures of England and India might prompt the powerbrokers to reconsider how the WTC is structured and hatch a plan that sees all sides playing each other across the same cycle. At worst, a third final on English soil without English participation may prompt a pivot in the current Ben Stokes-Brendon McCullum mindset.

This blatant disregard toward a competition's intentions of finding the best Test-playing country across a two-year window was best summed during England's recent tour of New Zealand, with Stokes saying, "I can't remember if I've ever given any real time to be specifically thinking about the World Test Championship, to be honest, because it's utterly confusing."

I'm sure the England think-tank is aware of their record; they have a losing (less than 50% win) record across the three WTC cycles. Australia and India have each qualified for two finals—I know how important the WTC is to Andrew McDonald, Australia's coach. And we must remind ourselves that England has unconditionally assumed a morally high ground regarding how Test cricket should be played. Their team's collective ignorance shows how disconnected they are from the rest of the cricket world.

Among the most telling ChatGPT prompts of 2024 is the simple request: 'Explain Bitcoin to a 12-year-old'—reflecting a collective desire to understand complex concepts in simple terms.

Imagine asking ChatGPT to explain the World Test Championship to a 12-year-old—even the accommodating mind of artificial intelligence might struggle to simplify this entanglement of cricket rules and regulations.

So, I did, and I will spare you a thorough explanation. Instead, you can read it separately here—in the interests of inclusion, I also asked Claude and Gemini. Here's the TLDR: "I have no fucking idea!"

South Africa's wins against the "nobodies", as Vaughan would call them, include victories in the West Indies, who beat Australia in Brisbane, and Bangladesh – this was their first series win in Asia in a decade. They also recorded clean sweeps at home against Sri Lanka, who beat England at the Oval, and Pakistan, which was also a recent winner against Baz's crew. Had they not sent a 2nd XI to New Zealand, ensuring their key players stayed home for a lucrative T20 franchise competition, there's a better than even chance they would have maintained their unbeaten record against the Black Caps, who also beat England recently—starting to see a pattern here? Despite not blindly championing England's approach, Vaughan feels invested enough to protest how cricket's demands exhaust his former team, dragging them across the globe to grow the game—heard that somewhere before?

Temba Bavuma's record of eight wins from his first nine Tests as captain elevates him to a lofty position on this metric in cricket's 148-year history—I will avoid drawing comparisons to Vaughan's early captaincy. His batters, or team, have produced nine centurions—more than Australia and England. And their attack is as potent as it gets. Coach Shukri Conrad is quietly remodelling South African cricket, shifting from self-driven teams to a collective mindset. No doubt Australia will test them in the final.

With fast-rising franchise leagues occupying precious weeks in the calendar and new proposals for a two-tiered Test ecosystem starting to look inevitable, the space between elites and also-rans is widening. So why not South Africa? I, for one, look forward to seeing what they have. And I know this to be accurate; if required, Mr Vaughan will be happy to undertake commentary duties on the final and bank the appropriate remuneration to help service his Alderley Edge abode.