New Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack Points Finger At The ICC And The WTC

First published in 1864, the annual Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack is 162 not out as the new edition comes out on Thursday. Editor Lawrence Booth has wasted no time in targeting the game’s governing body, the International Cricket Council, and its World Test Championship format.

Jay Shah was Secretary at the BCCI before making the crossover to ICC chairman in December. Both organizations contribute to an environment where India gets to play its own soundtrack while other national boards dance to the tune.

India won both the T20 World Cup and the Champions Trophy in Pakistan within the last ten months to make up for so many near misses. However, the team played all its matches in Dubai for the latter after refusing to play in the host country for longstanding political and security reasons. Accusations of scheduling favoritism were rife during the T20 tournament too.

“England and Australia, the only other countries with a hint of clout, acquiesced with barely a squeak”, Booth wrote. “Shah’s coronation – uncontested, naturally – was in no small part a consequence of their refusal to hold India to account. A decade or so earlier, the talk had been of a Big Three takeover. Now, cricket has handed over the only key not already in India’s possession. All hail the Big One.”

Wisden is known as the bible of the game. Booth became its youngest editor in 72 years at the age of 35 and he described the almanack as the “conscience of cricket” during an interview with the BBC that celebrated its 150^th edition. This particular version holds nothing back on the big issues.

The World Test Championship was discussed at recent board meetings in Zimbabwe. What should be, in theory, an enticing battle for the title of best red-ball country has failed the litmus test in structure and appeal. England’s Ben Stokes doesn’t rate the WTC or even understand it. Booth’s Wisden is even more dismissive.

“Among the first items in Shah’s in-tray ought to be the World Test Championship, a shambles masquerading as a showpiece. With teams playing a different number of matches against a different set of opponents, it requires a calculator to rank them, offending the first rule of thumb for any sporting endeavour: it must be easy to follow.” Booth suggests that the format should follow football and rugby’s four-year cycle rather than the current two years between finals.

The 2025 WTC blockbuster is between South Africa and holders Australia at Lord’s in June. The Proteas are there despite not even playing either England or Australia on the way. With India failing to qualify after being runners-up in 2021 and 2023, the home of cricket is expecting a reported $4 million loss of revenue for the game. The Wisden theme is very much that in the game of cricket monopoly, India now “had hotels on Park Lane and Mayfair.” St John’s Wood will be poorer without them.

Last year’s edition of Wisden had a similar feel to this year’s emphasis on the control tower of the BCCI. “The answer to too many questions in cricket is now: because we mustn’t upset India. And don’t the BCCI know it,” Booth remarked in 2024.

Cricket’s unique set of human demands means it has had to deal with player welfare as the schedule becomes ever more demanding. The likes of Virat Kohli, Ben Stokes, Glenn Maxwell and Harry Brook have all been in the news for taking time out of a game that can wear down players with its constant touring and long days in the field. In this year’s Wisden, former England skipper Alec Stewart writes a very moving tribute to his Surrey teammate, the late Graham Thorpe, who died last August.

“At team meetings, he rarely said a word, but he was incredibly observant. He would notice if someone was struggling, and go up to them later, one on one, and ask how they were, or had they thought of this or that to help solve a problem. He had life skills, as well as cricket skills,” wrote Stewart.

In a year where England plays India at home for a five-match series and the Ashes tour commences down under at Perth, the Big Three are still front and center of the game. Wisden might prick the conscience of cricket, but it is unlikely to derail the superpower that laps all other Test nations in importance, wealth and eyeballs.