[1] It started on 1 August 2019 with the first Test of the 2019 Ashes series,[2] and finished with the Final at the Rose Bowl, Southampton in June 2021.

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 2013 and 2017.

[8] 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.

[9][10] On 6 March 2021, India also confirmed their berth for the final, after beating England by 3–1 in a home Test series.

[16] This all meant that after each match, a side could be awarded a half, a third, a quarter, a fifth, a sixth, an eighth, a ninth, a tenth, a twelfth or a fifteenth of the total points available from the series, depending on the result and how many matches the series happened to consist of.

Ultimately, this meant a figure for the total points available from the series needs to be picked very carefully, as not many numbers give all integers when split into all these different fractions (360 does).

Being a highly composite number, when 120 was split into all these fractions, an integer was obtained in all cases except one – the points awarded for a draw in a 3-match series should be 131⁄3 (a third of a third of 120), but the 1⁄3 had been dropped.

[b] The schedule for the World Test Championship was announced by the ICC on 20 June 2018, as part of the 2018–2023 Future Tours Programme.

In March 2020, the second Test match between Pakistan and Bangladesh was postponed due to the pandemic.

[6][7] The International Cricket Council declared a total prize money pool of US$3.8 million for the tournament.

[41] This series did not take place as originally scheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and could not be a part of the Championship season.

[42] This series originally comprised three Test matches and was scheduled for July–August 2020, then postponed to October 2020, but was rescheduled again due to the COVID-19 pandemic.